Democratic congressional candidate Bill Gluba complains his opponent — republican Congressman Jim Nussle — has only debated him once, on public television, and won’t agree to another face-to-face meeting. “(Nussle’s) just got to be willing to stand his ground, stand up and fight like a man and take me on in public debate,” Gluba says. “If he’s not, well it’s a sad day in Iowa because this guy wants to run for governor and I’ve been telling the folks in this district why would you vote for someone who’s telling you ahead of time he’s not even going to be on the job? He’s going to take (his congressional salary), run full-time for governor and thumb his nose at the people of the first district.” Gluba plans to stage a series of public appearances around eastern Iowa in which he’ll talk to a person wearing a paper bag on his head — a shot at Nussle who first gained fame in Congress for donning a paper bag as he gave a speech on the House floor.”We’re going to debate the brown bag,” Gluba says. “We’re going to get a guy with a bag over his head like Nussle did and we’re going to take him out to the various county seat towns and the area’s major cities and we’re going to have our own debate…It’s going to be the old ’empty chair’ debate.” During their joint appearance on Iowa Public Television recently, Nussle told Gluba “you don’t want to debate the bag.” As you may recall, Nussle wore the bag and then pulled it off his head to illustrate his point that members of Congress who routinely bounced checks at the House Bank should ‘fess up to the public. Nick Ryan, a spokesman for Congressman Nussle, says if Gluba is trying to remind voters of Nussle’s leadership in exposing the House Banking scandal and being a leader in reforming Congress, we are very comfortable with that. Because of Mr. Nussle’s leadership, a Democrat Speaker of the House lost his job, the Ways & Means Chairman went to prison, and voters elected a Republican majority to Congress. And while Gluba is looking in that bag he totes around the district, maybe he will find his campaign.”
