Costa and Maher didn’t see eye to eye in Fresno. Here’s what happened with a debate

A miscommunication led to the cancellation of a debate on Monday night between Congressman Jim Costa and Republican challenger Michael Maher.

The Central Valley Veterans Action Alliance late on Monday night voted to endorse Maher for the November election.

On Monday afternoon, Maher’s campaign released a statement saying the retired U.S. Navy serviceman and former special FBI agent had been informed on Sunday night that Costa, D-Fresno, wouldn’t be “showing up” to the debate.

The debate had been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the American Legion Post 509 in Fresno. It was organized by the Central Valley Veterans Political Action Alliance, which has organized multiple debates in prior years.

“This debate has been put off and pushed back far too many times, and my campaign was given no justifiable reason for Costa’s absence,” Maher said in a statement. “Congress is currently out of session, and Costa’s schedule should allow him to appear before his constituents and my fellow veterans.”

However, Alfreda Sebasto, consultant for Costa’s campaign, late on Monday said there was no debate.

“We never agreed to a debate,” she told The Bee. “It was set without any agreement.”

Tim Rosales, lead strategist for Maher’s campaign, late on Monday said his team had emails and text messages from the organization, saying the debate was confirmed. The Bee was able to see some of the message exchanges.

“It’s hard to imagine the Congressman was not aware of this,” he told The Bee.

Dan Payne, a retired U.S. Marine officer and director for the Central Valley Veterans Political Action Alliance, was able to clarify what transpired. He said he didn’t want to make Costa’s office look bad.

Payne said he called Sebasto about three weeks ago, and left a voicemail with all the details for the debate, asking her to call back with any questions, but he says he never heard back from her. He said he figured she was fine with all the details.

“In Jim’s defense, I did not follow up with a second phone call or an email,” he told The Bee late Monday.

Payne recently learned that Costa had a previous engagement that had been planned for the past six weeks, and that Costa knew nothing of Monday’s debate.

Sebasto, Payne said, claimed she never got the voicemail.

“I can’t dispute that,” he said. “I remember her voicemail saying, ‘This is Alfreda,’ but things happen.”

But to reconcile the miscommunication, Payne said, his organization was going to assemble the same group of veterans who spoke with Costa on Aug. 27, and have them meet with Maher on Monday night. He said he wanted to make the situation fair for both Costa and Maher.

“We are going to ask Mike questions the way we did with Jim,” he said.

After the conversation, the organization asked Maher to leave the room, and the veterans who also met with Costa on Aug. 27 were able to vote on who to endorse for the upcoming election.

There were about 65 veteran attendees who met with Maher on Monday night, but of those, less than 20 were able to vote on the endorsement, Payne said. Only veterans who met with both Costa and Maher voted.

Payne said the 20 veterans who voted come from various other local veteran organizations. They also come from throughout the area, he said, such as Madera and Tulare, not just from Fresno.

“Mike was very, very kind with his statements,” Payne said late Monday.

Payne said Maher made it “very clear that we were not here to bash (Costa) because he wasn’t” at the event. He said Maher told attendees that they all should admire Costa for all his years of service as a congressman.

“People booed, but he stopped them and said, ‘No, No. That’s not what this is all about,’” Payne said, adding he was proud of how Maher handled his comments.

Earlier on Monday night, Payne said the organization wouldn’t endorse any politicians who have done wrongdoings, but his group hasn’t heard of Costa or Maher doing anything “dirty.”

The Central Valley Veterans Political Action Alliance has been active in organizing debates for the past 20 years. The group has organized debates involving former California Democratic Governor Gray Davis, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Congresssmen Devin Nunes and David Valadao, among others.

“We’ve never had this problem before,” Payne said about the miscommunication issue that led to the last-minute debate cancellation.