Clapperton calls Rotary debate ‘biased’

A candidate for La Paz County Supervisor District 2 has said he is declining an invitation to a Rotary-hosted candidates event, leading two other candidates to pull out of the event too.

In a Facebook posting September 29th, King Clapperton, who received the most votes in the Republican primary for the race, wrote the following:

In a Facebook post to “Randy Shotzer”, dated 092812 at 9:22 am, following a number of supporting posts, “Pam Boyd” posted the following: “Bring this to the Debate Oct 4th at 600pm Senior Center!!!! See you there, and yes Drum has this hands down!!!!”

Drum is a candidate for Sheriff. Clapperton went on to call the event an “obviously biased meeting” and said he would not “jump through hoops for someone’s entertainment”.

In the hours after Clapperton’s post, candidate for Sheriff Jose Moreno replied, “Sir I support you and your decision. I will not attend this function.”

Candidate for District 3 Supervisor Paul Hale responded later, saying, “I too will stand with you in declining this invitation.”

The remarks were also ‘Liked’ by Sheriff candidate Candy Escorza.

The October 4th event, sponsored by the Parker-Poston Sunrise Rotary Club, was announced around a month ago. The press release said, “Pam Boyd from the Arizona Western College will video the event for release to cable television and the internet.”

The moderator of the event is Dave Riek, station manager at NPR affiliate KAWC in Yuma.

UPDATE: Assessor candidate Squeak Kossnar has withdrawn from the event, saying he believes candidates John Drum and Sharon Schuler are members of Sunrise Rotary and believes it is a conflict of interest. (Schuler is actually a member of Parker Rotary.)