Hagan asked about missed committee meetings
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- During their debate Tuesday night moderated by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos, Republican rival Thom Tillis challenged Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan on her attendance at Senate committee meetings.
Tillis repeatedly asked Hagan to explain why she missed Armed Services Committee meetings when she would have been brought up to speed on things like the threat in the Middle East from Isis.
Rumors had been flying in Republican circles that - for at least one of those - Hagan was at a fundraiser.
Senator Hagan danced around the question during the debate, but afterwards we asked her, point-blank, whether she did miss any Armed Services Committee meetings for fundraisers.
"You know, there was one. And what had happened at that hearing, it was scheduled early in the day, and then votes were scheduled, and then that hearing had to be postponed later that day. So yes, I did miss that one. But you know what, Speaker Thom Tillis' hometown newspaper called on him to resign because he missed so many days in the legislature because he was out fundraising," said Hagan.
We checked on that. The Charlotte Observer did write an op-ed in 2013 saying he should resign because he missed so many legislative days and key votes while he was fundraising.
In response Wednesday, Tillis said: "If I had missed half of the important things we were doing in North Carolina, that'd be something to talk about. If I had anything approaching the seriousness of the threat of Isis, I would have cancelled anything I was doing."
