California Green Party Protests Exclusion of Green Candidates From Debates, Including Saturday's Gubernatorial 'Yawnfest'

Green Party of California
www.cagreens.org

October 10, 2006

Green Party of California strongly protests exclusion of Green candidates from debates, including Saturday's gubernatorial 'yawnfest' 

SACRAMENTO, Ca. (October 9, 2006) - The Green Party of California - citing the televised gubernatorial debate here Saturday which specifically excluded Green Party candidate Peter Camejo - is strongly protesting a growing trend to deny California voters the opportunity to hear from candidates from smaller parties.

Although statewide polls indicate that voters (by a 63 percent "yes" margin in one nonpartisan poll) wanted Camejo to be invited to the debate, Republicans and Democrats conspired to keep him out of the debate with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and challenger Phil Angelides Saturday. 

"The two, corporate-controlled parties, who accept tens of millions of dollars from organizations representing the wealthy interests of the state, control the airwaves by bombarding voters with senseless advertising. But that's not enough for them," said Erika Erika McDonald, chair of the GPCA Media Committee. 

"Now the two parties have schemed to deny voters any opportunity to hear from candidates who can really make a difference, such as Peter Camejo, who may receive much more support if only voters would be allowed to hear from them. Saturday's debate debacle was nothing more than a yawnfest that turned more voters off than on," added McDonald. 

Independent polls of voters and even news media outlets in the 2003 Recall Election indicated that Green Peter Camejo won the debate after he was invited to participate in a televised debate with Arnold and other major party candidates. 

And, it's not just the Governor's debate that Greens find themselves locked out of this year. Just Saturday, Green Party Insurance Commissioner candidate Larry Cafiero was blocked from attending a large "Voter Forum" in Sacramento, where more than 1,000 voters were allowed to hear only Republican and Democrat candidates. 

"Increasingly, Green Party and other third party candidates are not being invited to local and state forums. By denying Greens the opportunity to speak in public forums, it hurts the voters, who are being denied the opportunity to be informed voters. Our democracy is suffering, and that is the real tragedy," said Cafiero.