Cuomo Not to Blame for Her Exclusion from AG Debates, Treichler Says
Green Party of New York State
www.gpnys.org
Treichler for AG Campaign 2006
www.voterachel.org
October 26, 2006
For More Information: Rachel Treichler, 607-569-2114,
rachel@voterachel.org
Hammondsport -- Rachel Treichler, the Green Party candidate for Attorney General, addressed recent news reports that Andrew Cuomo put pressure on WABC, WXXI and WCNY to exclude her from the Attorney General debates hosted by those stations. "Whether Cuomo put pressure on the stations or not." Treichler said, "Andrew Cuomo is not to blame for my exclusion. It was the station managers who made the decision to exclude me. Their duty as broadcasters is to represent the public interest, and they failed to do that. I was approved by the League of Women Voters for inclusion in these debates. After the League withdrew their sponsorship because the stations refused to include me, the stations made no independent determination of my merit as a candidate. Instead, WABC and WXXI hastily proceeded to conduct debates without me, and WCNY canceled a scheduled debate between Jeanine Pirro and me."
"All the candidates on the ballot should have been included in the debates," Treichler stated, "When third party candidates are excluded from debates, the major party candidates are shielded from addressing issues the public wants debated. Including all the candidates would have increased voter interest in this year's attorney general race. History shows that viewership of debates and voter turnout on election day are increased when third party candidates are included in debates. The 1992 presidential debates including third-party candidate Ross Perot were watched by record-breaking TV audiences, averaging 90 million viewers, with a larger audience for each successive debate. Presidential voter turnout went up in 1992, reversing a 20-year downward trend. In 1996, with Perot excluded, the debates averaged only 41 million viewers--and voter turnout nosedived. In 1998 in Minnesota, participation by third-party candidate Jesse Ventura in the gubernatorial debates stirred interest
in the campaign and generated massive voter turnout, resulting in Ventura's surprise election."
"Of course Cuomo as the front runner doesn't want to debate me or let me debate Pirro. But he is not the one who decides which candidates the voters will see and hear," Treichler said.
Treichler was notified by LWVNY two weeks ago that she had been cleared for participation in League sponsored debates, as had Howie Hawkins, the Green Party's candidate for US Senate. But, she was told, the League's media co-sponsors refused to include her or Hawkins. Because of this refusal, the League withdrew its sponsorship of two AG debates and one US Senate debate in a press release issued October 13. The AG debates at WABC in New York City on October 15 and the debate at WXXI in Rochester on October 17 went forward between Andrew Cuomo and Jeanine Pirro without League sponsorship. An AG debate at WCNY in Syracuse between Treichler and Jeanine Pirro scheduled for October 18 was canceled.
Betsey Swan, legislative analyst for LWVNY, spoke this morning on the Democracy Now radio program about the League's process for determining that Treichler and Hawkins met the League's standards for inclusion in League-sponsored debates. "[T]he League has a policy that we apply in determining what candidates we will invite to participate in our debates. The policy was last modified in 1992. The board of directors invites third-party candidates to submit materials and information about their candidacies to the state League. The board reviews these materials and makes a determination about whether a candidate is a bona fide contestant. Among the standards that the League employs are the candidates constitutional eligibility to run for office, ballot access, compliance with financial filing requirements, and demonstration of significant voter interest and support in the candidacy. And the things we look at are evidence of a formal statewide campaign with the presence of
headquarters, issuance of position papers, campaign appearances, fundraising activities. And then we look at other factors that provide substantive evidence of voter interest, and this can include serious media attention or results in polls. And the board of directors looked at these criteria and determined that the two Green Party candidates, Howie Hawkins and Rachel Treichler, did meet these criteria, and therefore had to be invited to participate in any League-sponsored debates."
Swan stated, "[O]nce the decision was made [to include Treichler and Hawkins], we were in negotiations for one debate with WXXI in Rochester. This was a debate for the Attorney General's office, . . . And then two debates out of New York City with WABC: one for the U.S. Senate and one for the state Attorney General's race. Basically we were negotiating, and the bottom line with WXXI was, we were told, that if Rachel Treichler participated, Andrew Cuomo would not. And they were going with the debate with the two main party candidates. At that point, because the League takes the position that once it has determined a candidate is a bona fide contestant, the candidate is required to be invited to debate for League sponsorship, we had no choice but to withdraw. A similar situation occurred in New York City. We dont know the reason that the debates were limited to the two main candidates, but we were unable to negotiate inclusion of the Green Party candidates and also had to withdraw
from those debates."
An article on the AG's race in this week's Metroland seconds Swan's statement that Cuomo was behind Treichler's exclusion from the Rochester debate. The article states "an employee at WXXI confirms that Cuomos camp made it very clear: He would not appear with a Green Party candidate." The Metroland article also quotes an unamed source at WCNY as to the reasons why WCNY canceled debate between Pirro and Treichler. " 'Apparently, the three candidates couldnt come to a consensus on who would be at the debate,' says a source within WCNY (who wished to remain anonymous). Unwilling to name Cuomo, the source points out that both Treichler and Pirro were willing to debate each other, adding, 'You do the math. It is the stations policy to call off a debate if all of the viable candidates are not able to agree on the specifics of the debate. So once Cuomos camp made it clear they wouldnt debate if Treichler was invited, WCNY decided not to host the debate at all.' "
In the Metroland article, Swan is quoted as saying This is a common practice in New York. The front-runner tends to call the shots on who is invited to a debate. It is an issue that is of a concern to league members around the state and to portions of the public at large."
Treichler notes that a state court in Florida ruled Monday ordering the inclusion of a third party candidate in a televised gubernatorial debate. The court agreed with Reform Party candidate Max Linn's argument that public television stations cannot exclude candidates with a "substantial" campaign. The debate sponsors said they set a neutral threshold of scoring 10% in an independent polls to earn a debate spot, and Linn remained in the 1-2% range. The judge ruled the 10% requirement was "arbitrary" and not in the public interest. "Because the voters' rights are at stake in this case, it clearly rose to the highest level of constitutional importance. Our arguments in favor of voter rights were vindicated. The judge rejected all arguments that including a third party candidate in the debate would harm the conduct of the debate," Linn's attorney stated in a report on
http://www.politics1.com.
Two of the stations that excluded Treichler, are public television stations. WXXI in Rochester and WCNY in Syracuse are both PBS affiliates. A Zogby poll released on October 10 shows Treichler receiving 17% among independent voters. The percentage Treichler received among all voters was not released.
For more information about Treichler's campaign, visit her website,
http://www.voterachel.org.
References
Green Politics: Green Party Excluded From Mid-Term Debates
Democracy Now, October 25th, 2006
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/25/1422220
by Amy Goodman
Filling the Void: Candidates struggle to define themselves-and debate each other on serious issues- in the race to replace Eliot Spitzer
Metroland, October 19, 2006
http://www.metroland.net/features.html
by Chet Hardin