Velella Pulls Out of Norwood Debate By JORDAN MOSS Republican State Senator Guy Velella has pulled out of a Norwood debate, scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 22, with his Democratic challenger, Lorraine Coyle Koppell. The forum, to have been held at St. Brendan's School cafeteria, was co-sponsored by the Mosholu Woodlawn South Community Coalition, three local churches - St. Ann's, St. Brendan's and Epiphany Lutheran - and the Norwood News. The senator had confirmed his participation almost a month ago. "There is a strategic change of plans made by the senator's campaign, and the decision was made not to debate his opponent," said John Banville, Velella's campaign spokesman. "Senator Velella has debated his opponent before and substantive issues were not included in that discussion. The previous debate degenerated into name-calling and a lot of false accusations. The voters don't benefit from that sort of exchange." The event, billed as a "candidates' forum," will still be held Sunday at 2:30 p.m., but the venue has been moved to Epiphany Lutheran Church at 302 E. 206th St., just off Bainbridge Avenue. (For more information, call 655-1054.) Organizers of the event said Tuesday that they hoped Velella would change his mind and attend. Koppell said she was not surprised by the news since Velella has withdrawn from other debates including one in Mt. Vernon last Tuesday and another, set for Oct. 30, on BronxTalk PrimeTime, hosted by Gary Axelbank on Cablevision's channel 67. "Unfortunately, the people of the Bronx will be denied the opportunity to see a live debate for the one contested election [for the state legislature] we have this fall," Axelbank said. Koppell said she believed Velella is ducking questions she has raised about a $150,000 consultant's fee he received from an insurance company. Koppell's assertion that the consultant's fee was unethical "showed a blatant disregard of the facts and if she had looked into it, she would have found that Senator Velella had stepped down from the Insurance Committee [he chaired] nine months before," said Banville, who added that a bi-partisan Senate Ethics Committee unanimously cleared Velella. Koppell said Velella had misled his constituents by not informing them of the fee while he voted on health care issues. Monsignor Patrick Boyle, pastor of St. Brendan's Church, where the debate was originally to have been held, said, "I'm disappointed that he's not coming. It would have been a good chance to meet with his constituents and present his views on important issues that we're concerned about in our community."
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