{news} (Man. J.I.) Green Party to Air Debate Protest Ad

[Green Party-CT]

              10/18/2006    Green Party to air debate protest ad     By Keith M. Phaneuf , Journal Inquirer 
          The Connecticut Green Party will have its say at today's gubernatorial debate - whether the major political parties like it or not.

The Green Party released a 30-second commercial it will air once, on WVIT-30, today. Party spokesman Ken Krayeske said Monday that the commercial would air either one minute before the 7 p.m. debate, or just after the hourlong forum ends.

                
 
        ');  }  // -->                     ');   }   //-->           "There was no other way for our voice to be heard," Clifford Thornton of Manchester, the Green Party's gubernatorial candidate, said. "While I am generally opposed to renting the public airwaves ... we have to tell the general public that the two parties actively suppress free speech."

The 30 seconds of air time, which cost the party $3,300, will be its only voice at today's forum, which features a head-to-head matchup between Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell and Democratic nominee John DeStefano Jr., the mayor of New Haven.

Both the Green Party and the Concerned Citizens Party - which again is running Joseph Zdonczyk of Wolcott - complained last month when Rell and DeStefano agreed to two forums featuring only the two front-runners.

The new commercial, posted Monday on the Green Party's Web site, opens with party members protesting last week outside of The Garde Arts Center in New London, where the first gubernatorial debate was held. The crowd chants "more voices, more choices," and "we want freedom of speech."

Then Thornton, who is black, appears on screen and says, "In many respects, being Green is like being black, because you're being excluded left and right on many issues."

The commercial ends with the crowd chanting, "This is not democracy. This is not democracy."

The Rell-DeStefano debate will be aired live on WVIT and is expected to be the last debate between the two.

The candidates for lieutenant governor, Democrat Mary A. Glassman of Simsbury and Republican Michael Fedele of Stamford, will meet for one debate. That forum, set for 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at the Hartford studios of Connecticut Public Radio, will be broadcast live on CPR.
David Pond, a freelance video producer, prepared the Green Party commercial from Hartford, Krayeske said.

Rell and DeStefano have blamed each other for the minor-party candidates' exclusion.

Rell initially said she wanted all candidates featured at the debate, but that she only wanted two forums in total.

DeStefano said that since he and Rell are the only candidates with any quantifiable support in the polls, there should be at least two exclusive debates. But DeStefano also said in addition to that he would participate in as many group forums as Rell wanted.   

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