The candidates in the April 16 runoff for an open congressional seat in South Alabama praised a private debate on Monday for giving them a “chance to show voters” their positions and raising “the profile of the contest,” despite the public not being able to watch, the press being barred and little to no word getting out about what was said.

The Republicans involved in the pre-taped debate blasted each other on topics that might have been discussed, but cannot be verified, because no one from the press aside from the TV affiliates hosting the event, were allowed inside. And the whole thing is being held under wraps for an unspecified future air date, despite the runoff being just two weeks away.

“I’ve been to dozens of political debates and never heard of anything like this,” said Aaron Kall, director of debate at the University of Michigan who provides national analysis on political debates. “Some media outlets have been denied access to political debates because of grudges, but generally not the entire media.”

The debate host, the Mobile Chamber, says they OK’d the bizarre format. Bradley Byrne, president and CEO of the Chamber, said this offered a “unique advantage” to have local TV affiliates, WSFA and WALA-TV, “put out a full length, hour-long video of the debate” that was pre-taped and is expected to be broadcast on April 8 or 9.

The county says it was not informed on the requests to hold a closed event inside Government Plaza, which it owns and administers.

“The Chamber’s request to use the Auditorium was not presented as a closed event,” reads a statement today from the county spokesperson, Sharee Broussard, “therefore typical informal staff-level processes were followed. The Mobile Chamber was advised to allow the press; the denial was the decision of the Chamber, not of the Mobile County Commission.”

Byrne, a former Congressman, said the debate was a chance to inform voters.

“The people in the 2nd congressional district have been in the dark about a lot of things … they don’t know if they are in the 2nd Congressional District,” said Byrne of the newly configured district covering much of the Black Belt in south Alabama.

However, as of today, the voters remain in the dark.

But Byrne said the arrangement was a way to “get information out because we don’t have a daily newspaper anymore, ” noting the Mobile Press-Register ceased publication last year in print. It is now available as a digital daily edition and AL.com publishes continuously online. “We don’t have a daily newspaper,” he said, “so we are looking at out-of-the-box things to get information out there.”

Byrne also defended the use of the debate site – Government Plaza, the home to almost all the public offices in the City of Mobile and Mobile County – and said that the Chamber paid a $300 fee to rent and close off the auditorium.

Bourssard said the fee was for janitorial services, but that the Chamber has not been invoiced yet. The Chamber’s rental fee to use the auditorium – normally assessed at $750 – was waived, she said.

Broussard indicated the unusual private session will prompt a county to review their rental policies. “This has revealed the need to have a more formalized process.,” she said.

Byrne said he was unconcerned with a delayed broadcast of the debate, saying the issues discussed during it “will not change.”

“Prior to the primary, we put out digital billboards to tell people about the race,” he said. “We put ads into the local weekly newspaper. We sent out numerous digital pieces of information to let people know there is a race. We are doing everything we can to get information out there to voters in the area. People don’t have good access to information because they do not have daily access to a newspaper.”

Jonathan Gray, a longtime political consultant in South Alabama, told AL.com on Monday that he felt the Chamber’s strategy wasn’t effective, adding that a larger percent of a modern voting audience is online rather than watching local TV news, and would be more accessible through live streams on social media.

“This is a made-for-TV ratings debate,” Gray said. “Talk about tag wagging the dog. Mobile has not turned their electioneering to the paid television markets to determine when it’s more feasible and suitable to hold a debate. You could put it on Facebook and get more viewers.”

Democratic views

The stakes are high in the 2nd district race. It features four candidates in a two-way runoff for the newly drawn district the U.S. Supreme Court recently forced Alabama to create, a district covering much of the Black Belt and rural areas between Montgomery and Mobile.

The seat is considered competitive during the general election, and the race could play a crucial role in determining which political party holds the majority next year in the U.S. House. The district has been labeled as Democratic after it was redrawn, but Republicans see an opportunity to compete for the open seat.

Three of the four candidates running on April 16 say they were fine with the debate format.

Supporters included Democrat Shomari Figures and Republicans Caroleene Dobson and Dick Brewbaker. Democratic state Rep. Anthony Daniels’ campaign deferred comments to the Alabama Democratic Party, which also said they didn’t have any problems with the debate’s format.

“Since this was a media partnership, we don’t have an issue with the debate taking place in this manner,” said Sheena Gamble, spokeswoman with the Democratic Party. “We actually made the same overture to and several others to partner with us in the forum/debate; the Gray stations are the ones that jumped at the opportunity and created this media special with both the Democrat and Republican parties.”

Atlanta-based Gray Television, Inc., is the owner and operators of WSFA and WALA.

Figures, who was unaware that media was not allowed inside the debate on Monday, said the debate hosts informed the audience before it began later that night that if anyone was a member of the press, they had to leave.

“We didn’t set the rules,” Figures said, adding that a similarly-structured pre-taped debate was held at Troy University-owned Davis Theater in Montgomery in February, before the March 5 primary.

“When we did the first televised forum, they required us for means of participation to agree to participate in a runoff debate if we ended up in the runoff,” he said. “They made that a requirement. It was a pre-condition for their initial TV forum in February.”

Figures said each candidate received 20 invitees who could attend the debate inside the Government Plaza auditorium.

The WALA-TV general manager told AL.com Monday that anyone who pre-registered to attend the debate, was allowed inside.

He disclosed that if media had pre-registered, he did not believe there was any way they could prevent a member of the press from attending. But local media was not made aware of the debate beforehand and WALA-TV Fox 10′s general manager Eric Duncan denied an AL.com reporter entry.

Figures said, “I cannot speak for the Republican side, but on the Democratic side there as not an embargo or anything. They didn’t tell us not to tell the media about it.”

A debate story was posted on the right-wing website 1819 News, but Mobile Chamber spokeswoman Denise Curtis confirmed that their attendees were asked to leave.

A recap of the Republican debate was posted online. The Democratic debate was not reported by the website.

“They asked all the media to identify themselves and leave the room,” Figures said. “The (Mobile County) Republicans were also having their monthly meeting at Government Plaza. The state party chairman was there. They did the party meeting before their debate was recorded.”

Republicans react

Alabama GOP Chairman John Wahl was scheduled to speak before the county’s GOP executive committee, and that event was open to all members of the press.

The Alabama GOP did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

But the two candidates on the GOP side praised the debate’s opportunity, while taking digs at each other.

The Dobson campaign blasted Brewbaker for his alleged responses in the unaired debate on issues like immigration reform, and for taking a “casual attitude” toward illicit fentanyl use, and voter fraud.

“The debate and its format allowed us to illustrate the difference between the stale ideas of a career politician who took a government salary for almost 20 years and the fresh vision of a newcomer entering public service for all the right reasons,” the Dobson campaign said in a statement.

Brewbaker, a former state senator and longtime Montgomery automobile dealer, received 39.6% of the vote during the March 5 primary. Dobson, an attorney from Montgomery, finished second with 26.5%. The two are facing off in a primary runoff because neither received more than 50% of the vote during the initial primary.

On the Democratic side, Figures is facing Daniels because neither candidate got more than 50% during the March 5 primary. Figures got 43.5% of the vote, while Daniels was second with 22.4%.

The Brewbaker campaign responded by saying the Dobson campaign’s aim is to spend “millions to tear down a noble and exemplary conservative record” of the former senator “who has not only fought for the Republican Party his entire adult life but is the only candidate in the race with a documented reputation for keeping his promises to Alabama voters.”

David Mowery, with the Brewbaker campaign, said they felt any “exchange of ideas is a good thing, especially the chance to show voters why liberty, security and limited government make Brewbaker the ideal standard bearer for the Republican Party” in the 2nd District.