By Jack Chang
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner's campaign manager, Jim Bognet, accused rival Meg Whitman today of falsely asserting she had never received a response from Poizner earlier this year after inviting him to three debates in the fall.
In a letter to Whitman senior adviser Henry Gomez, Bognet said he sent Gomez a letter on Aug. 3 of this year accepting the debate invitation and that the Poizner campaign delivered a copy of the acceptance letter by hand to one of Whitman's consultants.
Whitman has been the target of criticism after skipping several debates with her GOP rivals and not appearing at candidate forums such as last week's breakfast hosted by former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Whitman has accepted one debate invitation scheduled for March.
Whitman hit back this week in a radio interview with Eric Hogue saying Poizner had not responded to her invitations for fall debates.
"I think we did ask him whether he wanted to debate in the fall, and I am not sure exactly what the answer was," Whitman said. "I'll have to find out. I mean, there wasn't a serious response that he gave us on that."
In his letter, Bognet wrote:
Ms. Whitman herself emphasized at a speech at the California Republican Convention in September that "Californians want to trust their leaders again. They want to be told the truth." But Ms. Whitman has failed in her obligation to tell the truth, both regarding Steve Poizner's position on debates and her own interest in debating Commissioner Poizner three times this fall.
Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get 
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