Spare Change: RI political candidates dodging debates isn't a very good look

I’m always baffled by candidates who can’t be bothered attending political debates. I’m thinking of you, Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos after you blew off WJAR.

Who’s advising that campaign?

In my time as a reporter, The Daily News invited in anyone who was running for anything. Most accepted. For us, it provided a private look at office-holders and wannabes.

One elected official routinely said no (perhaps bruised feelings about editorials). Didn’t matter much, since she always won.

One guy refused to sit down and stomped around our conference room like Ferdinand the bull, ready to break through his pen.

Another recorded us as we recorded him. OK, sure. Still waiting for the bootleg recording to come out.

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A woman seeking a legislative seat burst into tears at the first question … a softball along the lines of why are you running for this office?

Sad.

And one guy arrived ready to rumble, telling the reporter and editors we were against him, out to get him underestimating him.

This was before anyone asked a question. His opponent beat him handily and he sank back into obscurity, probably still raging.

It’s strange how some people behave in the face of free publicity.

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The town learned recently the school budget deficit is getting close to $2 million. Admittedly, it’s a strange form of regionalization in that both Newport and Middletown will continue to have their own high schools, with Newport getting a new one.

But I’m betting former town officials may be a lot less smug today than they were five years ago.

• It’s a good thing my wife is extremely neat. Otherwise I’d litter the floors with classified documents and old magazines mixed in.

• Serena Williams is one of the great American stories (along with big sister, Venus).

Serena emerged from rough and tumble Compton, California, with no tennis pedigree.

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Father Richard boisterously let the world know his daughters were going to be among the top female tennis stars of all-time. Yes, two low-income, African-American girls were going to dominate a largely white country club sport?

Turns out Serena, 40, became the best of all time.

No one had ever seen this kind of speed and power in the women’s game. And she became a fashion icon as well.

If Serena, whose fastball has faded, has played her last match, we will see her in Newport in five years or so for her Hall of Fame induction.

Venus, 42, won’t be far behind.

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• Am I allowed to write-in Dan McKee’s mom for governor?

• I want my … I want my … I want my MeTV?

Codgers like me have noticed that Channel 10 no longer carries MeTV, the oldies TV network filled with creative advertising and classic reruns of shows like “The Twilight Zone,” “M*A*S*H,” “The Andy Griffith Show,” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” Not to mention the Three Stooges.

Sinclair, which owns Channel 10, paid to air MeTV. It replaced MeTV with something it owns, the lame Charge! network, which airs washed out 1980-90s shows such as “CSI: Miami.”

Wow.

Sinclair (Fox Lite) does nothing to enhance the station’s reputation in Rhode Island. Channel 10, of course, had nothing to do with the MeTV decision.

But bug them about it if you like. Best hope is another local station will pick up the rerun network so people my age have something to watch at Metamucil happy hour.

• It was a short 40 years from MTV to MeTV, wasn’t it.

Jim Gillis is a Daily News columnist. Send him email at jimgillis13@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Spare Change: Political candidates dodging debates isn't a good look