Saturday, October 20, 2012

#totn #Election2012 The League of Women #Voters has called the two-party takeover of the #debates "a fraud on the American #voter."

Letter to the Editor of the NY Times, submitted Sept. 18, 2012

To the Editor,

While Obama and Romney made their pitch to women voters in the Oct. 16 debate, the 2012 election's only two-woman presidential ticket, Green Party nominee Jill Stein and running mate Cheri Honkala, were arrested for trying to enter the debate venue at Hofstra University.

If the debates wer e organized fairly, any candidate who is on enough state ballots to win the election and who has qualified for FEC matching funds should be allowed to participate. Dr. Stein and the Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson meet these criteria. Voters have a right to know about all the choices they'll find on the ballot and they deserve to hear more than the narrow range of ideas expressed by the two established parties' candidates.

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) is controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties and their corporate sponsors for the purpose of excluding all candidates except their own. The League of Women Voters has called the two-party takeover of the debates "a fraud on the American voter."

Scott McLarty
Washington, DC

Note: I serve as media coordinator for the Green Party of the United States (www.gp.org).


Sources:


"...for the purpose of excluding a ll candidates except their own."
"Democrats and Republicans Form Panel to Hold Presidential Debates" by Phil Gailey, The New York Times, February 19, 1987
"No Debate: How the Republican and Democratic Parties Secretly Control the Presidential Debates" (book) by George Farah
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