PAWTUCKET — Mayor James E. Doyle has challenged City Councilor Donald R. Grebien, his opponent in the mayor’s race, to a series of debates.

But that’s not the big news in this story.

The big news is that the list of organizations Doyle has proposed to host the debates doesn’t include the Glen Medeiros show, the much-watched public-affairs program on public access cable TV.

Doyle’s omission of the Glen Medeiros show from the list of debate venues drew an angry response from Grebien, who accused the mayor of picking such organizations as the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, the Pawtucket Times and the Pawtucket Foundation because he wants to control the makeup of the audience.

“None of them are televised,” Grebien said of the debates that the Times, the Chamber of Commerce, the Foundation and the Rotary Club would organize. “He’s trying to run and hide.”

Doyle said he has no objection to appearing on live television. The real reason he is leery of going on the Medeiros show is because he isn’t sure the talk-show host can be objective.

In the past year and half, Doyle said, Medeiros has used Grebien as a reference in seeking a city job.

Since 2006, when Doyle appeared on the Medeiros show to debate R. Thomas Magill, his challenger in the last election, Medeiros has called several times to inquire about the possibility of becoming a paralegal in the law department, Doyle said yesterday.

Medeiros has also called to inquire whether the recent round of layoffs was going to affect his wife, Cindy L. Medeiros, who has a city job.

“I just think that under those circumstances, the objectivity factor is compromised,” Doyle said.

Medeiros may still be looking for a city job, Doyle said, either in his administration or in Grebien’s. Under the circumstances, Doyle said, he doesn’t feel comfortable going on the show.

Medeiros, 57, doesn’t earn a living as a talk-show host. Until three years ago, he was employed in the boiler room at Teknor Apex.

Medeiros acknowledged approaching Doyle for a job, and using Grebien as a reference, after Teknor Apex shut down his division, throwing him out of work

He acknowledged meeting with Doyle and Grebien at Micheletti’s restaurant in Seekonk to discuss his prospects of getting a city job.

But Medeiros, who was told that jobs weren’t available, vehemently denied that his failure to get a job in the Doyle administration made him biased against Doyle or in favor of Grebien.

And he hotly disputed Doyle’s assertion that he called the mayor’s office during the recent wave of layoffs to find out whether his wife’s job, as a secretary in the recreation department, was secure.

“That’s totally out of context,” Medeiros said.

The purpose of the call was to find out how deep the cuts would go, Medeiros said, not to protect a particular employee.

“I’ve had tons of people call me up –– employees all upset that they may lose their jobs.” Medeiros said, because of the city’s budget difficulties.

Medeiros said he used his wife as an example, asking Doyle whether her seniority would protect her from the current round of layoffs.

“My wife has 10 years plus. Could it affect her?” Medeiros said he asked the mayor. “I wanted to know where the stopping point is.”

The imbroglio over the Glen Medeiros show is the first big flare-up in the mayor’s race, which is shaping up to be a bitterly fought contest between Doyle and Grebien, a former City Council president who is running with the backing of a previous mayor, Robert E. Metivier, and a former city solicitor, John T. Gannon.

Although he knows both candidates personally, and thinks he can be objective, Medeiros said the ultimate judges will be the viewers.

“My boss is my audience. They’re not stupid,” he said. “They can see if you’re being fair.”

jcastell@projo.com