{news} 4th District 4-way debates Oct 15 & 16

[David Bedell]

A recent Westport News editorial supports inclusion.  If you would like to 
attend a truly democratic debate, come to one of these two scheduled 10/15 
in Westport or 10/16 in Fairfield.

http://www.westport-news.com/opinion/ci_4450773

Democracy Is For Everyone
Staff Reports
Westport News
Article Launched:10/06/2006 09:46:27 AM EDT

What essential aspect of democracy is routinely denied to some candidates? 
The right to debate.

This year we have four candidates on the ballot in the hotly contested 
Fourth Congressional District but it is widely expected that Republican 
incumbent Christopher Shays from Bridgeport and second-time democratic 
challenger Diane Farrell from Westport will garner the lion's share of the 
votes.

Does that mean that Phil Maymin, the Libertarian Party candidate from 
Greenwich and Richard Duffee, the Green Party candidate from Stamford, 
should be excluded from the debates? Absolutely not!

Of the 11 scheduled debates involving Fourth District Candidates, Maymin is 
presently excluded from four. At press time, Duffee was on the slate for 
only two of the debates. The exclusions result from the selection criteria 
of the various organizations that are sponsoring the debates.

In general, the rationale is that candidates who don't have broad support 
and sufficient financing should be excluded from the debates because they 
are not viable candidates. Naturally, different organizations have different 
definitions and procedures for deciding whether candidates qualify.

As a matter of practicality, the sponsoring organizations are concerned with 
logistics. They may feel that having too many candidates participating could 
dilute the debate or cause procedural problems.

Be that as it may, it is not the job of an organization that promotes 
democracy and debate to decide who is and who is not a legitimate candidate. 
This amounts to a pre-election screening process that doesn't seem very 
democratic at all. The League of Women Voters, in particular, needs to take 
another look at its policy in this regard. We would expect it to have a more 
inclusive approach in this matter.

Minor party candidates may not get a lot of votes but they deserve to be 
heard. In addition, they often raise questions that the major parties like 
to avoid. In this way, they can influence the tenor of debates and serve an 
important purpose that far exceeds the number of votes they may ultimately 
receive. We need Libertarians reminding us about the importance of limiting 
the size and cost of government and its intrusion into our personal lives. 
We need Greens reminding us to treat spaceship Earth with respect.

The concept of debate is central to democracy. All efforts should be made to 
accommodate as many legitimate candidates as possible. Granted, things would 
get crazy if you had a dozen candidates but there are only four candidates 
on the ballot in the Fourth District.

Fortunately, all four candidates have been invited to the debate in Westport 
to be held Sunday, Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m., at Temple Israel.

For those unable to attend the debate in Westport, all four candidates have 
also been invited to the debate set for Monday, Oct. 16, 8 p.m., at the 
nearby Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University.

Another practice that needs to have light shed on it is the habit of some 
incumbents refusing to debate. Chris Shays would have gotten a lot of flack 
if he had refused to debate Diane Farrell. However, it is not uncommon for 
frontrunners in local races to avoid debate by saying they're too busy or 
that they have a conflict.

It is widely accepted that political frontrunners generally prefer to avoid 
debate because it represents downside risk without much potential reward. If 
you're already comfortably ahead, why would you risk losing a debate? You 
have little to gain and a lot to lose. An eminently logical and politically 
astute approach that is, nevertheless, completely self-serving.

Excluding legitimate candidates from debates and avoiding debate are both 
un-American and undemocratic practices.