No Means Yes

After no fewer than five weeks of increasingly futile attempts at negotiating with auditor general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bob Casey Jr.’s campaign staff, City Paper finally got a letter last Friday in answer to our request for a sit-down with Bob prior to deciding our candidate endorsements. The answer was a polite no.

"I regret to inform you that Bob's schedule, which now includes dozens of requests for appearances across the state, simply cannot accommodate your generous offer," wrote campaign scheduler Roxanne Scala Tuinstra.

Though disappointed, we were willing to accept that as the official final word. We were, that is, until staff writer Dan Brook ran into the candidate at a fundraiser Monday night at Trust in Center City and saved the day.

After talking to Casey about his success in finding support in his opponent's adopted hometown and being regaled with stories about Bob's adventures living in North Philly as a Philadelphia public school teacher in the 1980's, Brook got down to business.

"I informed Bob that City Paper had run a cover story, full-length Q&A with Ed Rendell this week and one of my colleagues had been in contact with the Casey campaign trying to arrange a time," said Brook. "Casey said, å'm sure we'll be able to set up a time.' I then informed him that my colleague had just received a letter denying the request for an interview. Casey said, å must have been [a] scheduling [conflict],' and insisted that he'd be happy to be interviewed."

Casey then had a staffer write down the name and number of his new director of communications, Karen Walsh. By Tuesday afternoon, Walsh was bending over backward to cooperate.

"Bob called me first thing this morning and said, å it happen,'" Walsh said. "We're trying to find time on Monday the 13th, if that's OK with you folks." Assured that it would be, Walsh promised to call back with the details. Asked about the sudden change of heart, Walsh blamed the hectic pace and scheduling of a political campaign, but she assured us that Bob is trying to accommodate every request he can.

When she did call back, Walsh graciously offered to push the meeting up to Thursday, May 2 to accomodate our editorial schedule. So, will Bob pick bits of falafel off our conference table and suck the tabouli from his fingers while he outlines his vision of Pennsylvania under the second-generation Casey administration? Does he even eat Middle Eastern food, or will we be sending out for grilled cheese on white bread? You'll be the first to know.

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