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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Luzerne County District Attorney hopeful Vito DeLuca has accused his opponent of dodging court appearances and says now she&#8217;s dodging a debate.</p><p>DeLuca, a Democrat, said in a news release Wednesday he has been requesting a debate with incumbent DA Stefanie Salavantis &#8220;for weeks now&#8221; through the League of Women Voters of the Wilkes-Barre Area to no avail.</p><p>&#8220;She always says she has to check her schedule,&#8221; DeLuca said of the Republican prosecutor. &#8220;Time is running short.&#8221;</p><p>Not true, says Salavantis.</p><p>&#8220;Defense attorney Vito DeLuca&#8217;s most recent negative attack against me is disappointing and riddled with deceptions and inaccurate information,&#8221; she said.</p><p>According to Salavantis&#8217;s camp, neither she nor her campaign has received a debate request from DeLuca, and the only date discussed so far conflicted with an event at which Salavantis was speaking.</p><p>She said her campaign has been in contact with the LWV about other dates.</p><p>A message left with the LWV Wednesday was not immediately returned.</p><p>DeLuca said he is willing to debate Salavantis &#8220;anytime, anywhere and in whatever format she would like,&#8221; suggesting they should have multiple debates in multiple venues. He said the DA owes it to county voters to defend &#8220;what she deems to be her record.&#8221;</p><p>Issues he says he&#8217;s interested in discussing include a &#8220;dramatic spike&#8221; in crime and the dismissal of more than three dozen DUI cases he claims have occurred during Salavantis&#8217;s tenure.</p><p>&#8220;This is an inexperienced attorney who has dodged appearing in court to handle so much as a traffic ticket, I can only believe that she thinks she could dodge a debate with me as well,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Salavantis in her statement defended her record, saying her administration has collaborated with law enforcement to better utilize county resources, saving in the last four years, she says, more than $250,000 in taxpayer dollars.</p><p>&#8220;I had hoped the voters could have been treated to a real discussion of ideas to move Luzerne County forward, but by his recent actions he seems more interested in mudslinging than talking about issues that matter,&#8221; she said.</p><p>DeLuca&#8217;s release is the <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/487003/mayoral-da-candidates-allege-district-attorney-salavantis-used-public-resources-for-campaign" target="_blank">second attack on Salavantis&#8217;s campaign</a> in the last two weeks. Last Wednesday, DeLuca along with Republican city mayoral candidate Frank Sorick accused Salavantis of using public resources to perform campaign research.</p><p>The pair said Salavantis ordered her staff to pull files related to an animal cruelty case DeLuca defended after DeLuca received a campaign endorsement from an animal rights group.</p><p>Salavantis denied the allegations, saying her office accessed the files as reference to another animal cruelty case.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">DeLuca </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_DeLuca_Vito_preferred_mug_toned.jpg</photo0><caption0>DeLuca </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_pressconference02.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Salavantis </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/web1_pressconference02.jpg</photo1><caption1>Salavantis </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By James O&#8217;Malley</p><p>jomalley@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach James O&#8217;Malley at 570-991-6390 or on Twitter @TL_omalley.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

DA challenger Vito DeLuca says Stefanie Salavantis refuses to debate him