Press Release

October 6, 2004

Jesse4WVGov

At 9am this morning Jesse Johnson the Mountain Party Candidate for Governor was in attorney Roger Foreman's office to sign the necessary paperwork to sue the West Virginia Broadcasters Association for deliberately excluding him from tonight's gubernatorial debate. Johnson is on the ballot in all 55 West Virginia counties, was actually first on the ballot, and is the only other candidate besides Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Monty Warner running for governor.

The formal lawsuit being filed on behalf of the Mountain Party and Johnson will seek an injunction against the Broadcasters Association, Verizon (sponsoring the event) and the West Virginia Cultural Center (where the event is being held), to stop the event.

Joe Parsons President of the Broadcasters Association says the debate is only an hour long and having three candidates on stage would take too much time. He also claimed that in the interest of fairness to all West Virginians, the Association needs the extra time to get to all the important issues.

Johnson points out that "if I'm not on stage a large number of West Virginians including pro-choice supporters, those against mountaintop removal, and those against the death penalty, will have no voice. I want to give a voice to the voiceless."

Parsons went on to state that the debate is not a political event, but a news and entertainment event, so the Broadcasters can include or exclude whomever they want.

"What arrogance!" said Gary Zuckett, Mountain Party Chair. "WV Broadcasters are using the public airwaves (raking in tons of cash airing political ads) and should give voters a chance to size-up every candidate who appears on the ballot for governor. Who are they to decide which ones are worthy to appear? WV voters deserve information on all their choices in November, not a censored line-up! What ever happened to equal time for all candidates? This is a major disservice to their listeners and viewers."

The debate co-sponsored by WV Public Broadcasting and the League of Women Voters (Oct 24) does include all candidates on the ballot. Zuckett credits them with respect for our democratic process and says they should be thanked by voters for doing it right.

However Zuckett goes on to say, a much larger audience views the Broadcaster’s commercial debates, "many of who will be unaware they are viewing a censored line up of candidates. How can voters make informed choices in November if they aren’t allowed to see and hear from all the candidates? Its just plain unfair and unbalanced".

"The legislature has decided what it takes to be on the ballot. I have meet that criteria. It's either time to adhere to the law and respect it, or perhaps the Broadcasters Association needs to lobby the legislature for what they believe is acceptable criteria for running for office," said Johnson.

Tonight's debate will begin at 7pm at the WV Cultural Center and aired on WSAZ. A large protest will be taking place outside beginning at 6:15pm.

For more information contact the Jesse4WVGov Campaign at 304-395-8785 or Gary Zuckett 304-659-3663