Jonathan Tasini blogged directly on this yesterday,
http://www.dailykos.com/...
but it's important that we keep the heat on!
For those of you who don't follow New York's political system closely, Ex-Union leader and writer Jonathan Tasini officially qualified to be listed on the New York primary ballot as a Democratic Challenger to Hillary Clinton in this September's Primary for her current Senate Seat. But now a local television affiliate of Times Warner, NY1, which is broadcasting debates for every other statewide Democratic primary contest, as well as the debate for the Republican Senate primary, is refusing to broadcast any debates involving Hillary Clinton and Jonathan Tasini. The reason? NY1 decided Tasini hasn't raised enough campaign contributions to warrant broadcasting him on "their" airwaves. Jonathan Tasini's right to debate the issues with Hillary Clinton is being held ransom for a half million dollars. That is the money NY1 says Tasini has to raise before they will let him participate in a public debate
People should know that Jonathan Tasini is the only Democrat other than Senator Clinton to directly qualify for the primary ballot. That part comes as no surprise, because New York has one of the toughest set of requirements in the nation for a candidate to formally be listed on a political party's primary ballot via petitions gathered, rather than designation by a party convention. While the New York State Democratic Party, as expected, nominated Hillary Clinton to run for another term as U.S. Senator, most conventional political observers were shocked when Jonathan Tasini turned in over 40,000 formal signatures from registered Democrats throughout New York State asking that he be placed on the Democratic Primary ballot also. That vastly exceeds the already difficult 15,000 signature minimum needed to qualify (almost twice as many signatures as Joe Lieberman needs to gather in CT to run on his own new Party there), and Tasini also met the additional threshold requirement for turning in sufficient signatures in at least half of NY's Congressional Districts. In other words, this isn't a case where NY1 TV has to worry if they allow Jonathan Tasini to debate Hillary Clinton, then ten more political wannabes will say I deserve to be included also. Only Hillary Clinton and Jonathan Tasini met New York States stringent requirements to run in the Democratic Primary.
The most recent polls taken in New York State currently have Jonathan Tasini, who face it is relatively unknown compared to Senator Clinton, pulling 13% of the vote in a primary race against Hillary Clinton. Not too shabby under the circumstances, and exactly the same percentage Ned Lamont initially polled early in his race against Joe Lieberman. So clearly the views Jonathan Tasini represents are resonating with a significant number of New York Democrats, many of whom are not yet even aware of Tasini's campaign.
The issue being raised here transcends whether or not one thinks Hillary Clinton is a great Senator and should be returned to office. It even transcends whether on not one thinks Jonathan Tasini has a realistic chance of defeating her in a Primary. It is about the value of debating issues in a Democracy prior to elections. It involves Free Speech, and who determines where and when it is allowed to happen. Most Kos readers have heard of Elliot Spitzer who is running for Governor this year in New York as a Democrat. Far fewer have heard of his Democratic opponent in the September primary, Tom Suozzi, who almost no one thinks has a ghost of a chance of defeating Spitzer. But Suozzi has rich backers who have donated well over the TV1 half million dollar debate inclusion threshold to his campaign, so TV1 plans to broadcast a Spitzer/Suozzi debate.
The Tasini Campaign is demanding a clean and simple standard for deciding who should and should not be invited to a debate broadcast over NY's public airwaves. Did that person qualify for the official primary ballot? If yes include them, if not exclude them. If it's good enough for New York State, shouldn't that be good enough for New York One? Why do they now play the gatekeeper function over public debate in our Democracy, rather than the rules openly established through New York State's democratically elected institutions?
You may not care a lot about what happens with one New York State Debate, you may hope that Hillary Clinton runs away with the Primary Election, but is this the type power you think privately owned media should have in our Democracy? If you think NY1 is wrong, let them know how you feel. Here is what the Tasini campaign is urging you to do:
"We are asking you to immediately call Robert Hardt, NY1's Director of
Politics, who was one of a few media power-brokers who made this decision that is
closing off discussion and censoring debate. We are calling for a simple criteria for
participation: any candidate who has qualified for the ballot should be
allowed into the debate. Call or e-mail him TODAY: 212-379-3330 or
Robert.Hardt@ny1news.com and demand that NY1 revise its criteria."
For more information on and coverage of this controversy, go to Tasini's web site:
www.tasinifornewyork.org