{news} Courant: more on Burbank's exclusion

[David Bedell]

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hcu-5thdebate-1007,0,7188325.story

5th Congressional District Debate Scrapped

By DANIELA ALTIMARI
The Hartford Courant
4:26 PM EDT, October 7, 2008

A scheduled debate Saturday between the 5th District congressional
candidates at Central Connecticut State University has been scrapped.

University officials said they could not host the League of Women Voters
face-off unless two third-party candidates, Canton attorney Harold Burbank,
a member of the Green Party, and Thomas Winn of the Independent Party, were
invited.

"We have a set of criteria for League-sponsored debates ... but the
university felt everyone on the ballot needed to be included,'' said Jara
Burnett, president of the League of Women Voters of Connecticut.

Mark McLaughlin, Central's associate vice president, said the university is
bound by IRS rules as both a governmental entity and a nonprofit
organization to provide equal opportunity to everyone on the ballot.

U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, and Republican David Cappiello will
square off for the first time Wednesday, Oct. 15, at noon at the Courtyard
by Marriott in downtown Waterbury. It is being organized by the Waterbury
Regional Chamber of Commerce. The minor party candidates were not invited.

Copyright © 2008, The Hartford Courant