Dennis Delano, the Republican candidate for New York Senate District 58, has created a close race for incumbent Bill Stachowski despite the fact that he’s turned down numerous debate and interview offers.

A Siena College Research Institute Poll released October 8th showed Delano leading Stachowski 49 percent to 36 percent.

While Stachowski said his polls show the race has since tightened, political analyst Kevin Hardwick said Delano’s showing can be attributed to his name recognition. Delano has appeared repeatedly on local news programming and national shows, including Dateline NBC, following his work to overturn two wrongful convictions as a Buffalo Cold Case Detective.

“Certainly a Democrat should win that district, and if a Republican wins it, and they don’t come out and talk with folks about the issues and appeal to them on that basis, then it’s all about name recognition,” Hardwick, a Canisius College professor, said.

According to Delano’s campaign, he prefers to go door-to-door and talk with voters one-on-one as opposed to talking through a television camera.

Delano turned down 2 On Your Side’s interview requests both yesterday and today and also declined to participate in a 2 On Your Side debate.

Following that decision, Delano released a statement that said:

“The trouble with the career politicians is they would rather talk to the voters from the other side of a television camera than to sit down with them one-on-one to talk about the real issues facing families here in Western New York.

Bill Stachowski has had 26 years to talk about his record. I’m not going to distract from my campaign so that he can use a television camera to explain away the lost jobs and lost population our area has suffered.

If more politicians got out of the television studios and spent time rubbing elbows with their constituents, the state legislature would be a much more effective government body.”

Hardwick, on the other hand, said not being a career politician has nothing to do with the election process.

“The process is: You want our votes, you’ve got to answer our questions,” Hardwick said. “I think the only way you find that out is seeing him think on his feet, in a debate, finding out what he’s all about, and I don’t know how that comes out unless you talk to the media.”

Stachowski said he’s attended at least ten public forums and events and that Delano has not been at any of them.

We believe it’s a shame my Republican opponent didn’t feel it was necessary to come out in public and talk about the issues. The fact is–that is part of the process.”

Source: WGRZ