The following article was written by Chris Bragg & Laura Nahmias for City & State:

Republican State Senate candidate David Storobin said in a statement this afternoon that Councilman/Democratic opponent Lew Fidler had become “stage shy” in response to two Jewish organizations’ requests for a debate between the two candidates – and that Fidler is trying to dodge the issue of school vouchers.

According to Storobin’s campaign, Fidler recently refused a joint debate invitation from Agudath Israel and the Council of Jewish Organizations of Flatbush, while Storobin agreed.

But Fidler’s campaign says it never got an invitation for the debate. And while David Simpson, Storobin’s spokesman, initially offered to produce an invitation, he has been unable to yet do so.

In an email, Simpson did explain the series of events that had led to Storobin’s claims. Notably, Simpson said that the information about the debate had come from a single source: Shmuel Lefkowitz, a full-throated and prominent supporter of Storobin’s campaign.

Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz who is with the Council of Jewish Organizations invited us to debate sponsored by that organization and Agudath Israel. We agreed, and it was our understanding that Fidler’s camp also agreed. After that, emails and phone calls went back and forth trying to firm up a date and logistics. Then, this afternoon (Friday), Lefkowitz got back to us and said Fidler had pulled out.

I will make every effort to get you in touch with representatives from the Council of Jewish Organizations to back up our claim, but it’s probably not going to happen until later in the weekend. I have made several phone calls and no one is answering because Shabbos has already begun.

That said, Fidler’s response skirts the issue. He’s deflecting onto whether or not a “formal” invitation exists instead of saying whether or not he agrees to an Orthodox debate. Does he or doesn’t he? We were told he said no and we’re sticking by that.

Lefkowitz, who did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment, recently attended a press conference in which Storobin denounced Fidler. He doubles as the chief lobbyist for Agudath Israel and is one of the people that struck a deal with Republican Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos last year to land $18 million in yeshiva tuition assistance funding– with his promise of support for a Republican in this Senate race.

Fidler’s campaign manager, Kalman Yeger, slammed the Storobin campaign in a statement to City & State, for what he said was Storobin’s deceit.

“David Storobin continues to drag this campaign to the gutter with lies and deceit, this time inventing an imaginary debate,” Yeger said. “The fact is that Councilman Fidler agreed to every single debate offered in this campaign.

Mr. Storobin obviously invented this imaginary event, to which we were never invited.”

Fidler’s campaign also said that in a phone call this afternoon, following Storobin’s press release, the executive director of COJO of Flatbush said he had no knowledge of any debate being planned.

Storobin’s statement this afternoon came minutes after the Fidler campaign had sent out a press release saying Fidlerhad been hospitalized with a case of gout – so Yeger also hit Storobin for his alleged insensitivity.

“If Mr. Storobin had any class, he would have offered traditional ‘refuah sh’laimah’ (‘full recovery’) wishes, instead of launching another lie-filled attack,” Yeger said.

(Source: City & State)