Thursday, October 02, 2008

Mountain Party nominee Jesse Johnson files suit over exclusion from gubernatorial debate‏


Jesse Johnson for Governor of West Virginia http://www.jesse4wvgov.org
West Virginia Mountain Party http://www.mtparty.org

For Immediate Release
October 1, 2008

Contact: MP Press 304-552-6167 or
Jesse Johnson 304-541-9841


Mountain Party Nominee Goes to Court to Join Debate

Nominee Johnson Files suit against WV Broadcasters Assoc & Clay Center


Charleston WV - Today at 1:30 PM Mountain Party nominee for Governor, Jesse Johnson, filed a request for an injunction against the WV Broadcasters Association and the Clay Center to compel them to include all legally recognized and qualified candidates in their Oct. 13th governors' debate.

“This is the same anti-democratic debate as in 2004,” cited Jesse Johnson, who was also the Mountain Party candidate for governor in that election. “If we continue letting corporations 'filter' our political debate, voters will go to the polls with only partial information. We need transparency in the political process, not Big Brother deciding who is worthy to let voters hear on televised debates. Our founding fathers would be appalled at how our political discourse is now controlled by commercial interests.”

“This year the WV Broadcasters’ Association has set up an 'elite' invitation-only debate that is merely infotainment and a disservice to citizens who want to have all the candidates put their proposals on the table of public airwaves. Both major party candidates are conservative and pro-business. Let’s get some new, progressive ideas in the debate. The Broadcasters use the public airwaves and should let all candidates' ideas into the mix -- not just the ones they agree with.”

“The Clay Canter is a public charity and as such cannot endorse or oppose political parties or candidates. If hosting a debate that excludes a nominee that will appear on every ballot in the state isn't illegal, it should be,” Johnson concluded.

Neither of the other candidates for governor has objected to including Johnson in the debate to be held at the Clay Center in Charleston on the evening of October 13th. In fact, at the Charleston Gazette's editorial board meeting with Johnson and Governor Joe Manchin last month, Manchin said he had no problem including all candidates in the Broadcaster's debate.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jesse Johnson cannot possibly win a major race such as Governor, even if it is in a little poor state like West Virginia. He just LOST AGAIN this week by an remarkably embarassingly large margin... mostly, voters in the state gave him some votes as a protest against manchin and Weeks... not because they every thought Jesse could actually win. Jesse needs to go get a real job now, stop these enormous waste of time and energy in running failed campaigns - he should go get a real job and show voters he can 1) actually hold a job for onger than 12 months and 2) actually produce some results that voters can actually judge. He sets up "companies" that never exist, he pads his resume with creative work out of state that no one can verify or confirm - basically Jesse can't decide what he wants to be when he grows up, so he feeds his ego with these ridiculous campaigns. Jesse - GO GET A JOB!