State Senator Scott Brown, a Wrentham Republican running for Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat, has rejected an invitation to debate his primary opponent, Jack E. Robinson, at the John F. Kennedy Library & Museum, citing the partisan nature of the proposed setting.
Robinson had accepted an invitation for a Nov. 16 Republican debate, sponsored by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, calling it a “wonderful opportunity’’ to air the differences between the two GOP candidates.
But Eric Fehrnstrom, a Brown spokesman, said yesterday that the candidate rejected the idea of holding a debate whose location and sponsor are so thoroughly associated with Kennedy, a longtime Democratic stalwart in the Senate.
“We’re willing to debate, but it ought to be in a neutral setting with an impartial and nonpartisan sponsor,’’ Fehrnstrom said. “Allowing the Kennedy Institute to sponsor a Republican debate at the Kennedy Library is like having the Reagan Foundation sponsor a Democratic debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. They might as well invite us to Democratic Party headquarters and let [Governor] Deval Patrick ask the questions.’’
Alleigh Marre, a Robinson spokeswoman, blasted Brown’s decision.
“If he can’t face Republicans in November, how is he going to do so in December?’’ she said in an e-mail, referring to the Dec. 8 primary. “It’s a missed opportunity for voters to hear the Republican side of the issues.’’
Peter Meade, the chief executive of the Kennedy Institute, said: “We intend to mirror Senator Kennedy’s work, and when it moved toward progress, partisanship was never an issue. One of the hallmarks of his incredibly successful career was his ability to reach across the aisle, and it’s who we intend to be as an institute.’’
The two candidates are expected to face each other Sunday at a League of Women Voters forum in Amherst.
Fehrnstrom said Brown’s campaign is also in talks with the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce about an event, and he said Brown would consider additional debate requests.
Robinson, who has run for three major political offices in the last nine years, said he has filed enough signatures to get on the Republican primary ballot.
But some voices within the state party are hoping to force him out of the race, so voters and activists can rally behind Brown.
