State certifies third party for upcoming ballot

From a press release from Rich Whitney, Green Party candidate for Governor:

This morning, the State Board of Elections voted unanimously to certify the Green Party state slate to appear on the November ballot. The people of the State of Illinois will now have a third, and better, choice of candidates for all state constitutional offices.

The Green Party slate has come a long way to get this far. First, we had to overcome the legal roadblock that the two corporate-sponsored parties erected against all third-party efforts in this state. We had to collect 25,000 signatures in just 90 days – five times the number of signatures that their candidates had to collect – just to qualify to be on the ballot. We accomplished that, collecting well over 39,000.

We had to overcome another roadblock when the Blagojevich machine used its staffing and monetary advantage in challenging our petitions before the State Board. We were
forced to hire a ballot defense coordinator and pay for legal services to defend our petitions against the challengers. Apart from that, the rest of our defense lay in the hands
of dozens of dedicated volunteers who worked many long hours for several weeks to defend our petition signatures, line by line. While these volunteers did not have to be paid for their time, this obviously diverted their time and energy from the real work of the campaign – which, of course, was just what the Blagojevich machine wanted.
Fortunately, some of you in the news media were good and responsible enough to cover the story exposing this underhanded ploy. And, as of today, we beat the Blagojevich
machine back, winning this vital battle for ballot access.

We’re two for two so far. Now the next challenge we face on the road to victory is to get into the remaining gubernatorial debates.

Whatever one may think about me or my proposals, I think that we have at least established that I am a serious candidate for governor. We have demonstrated this by
making the monumental effort to get on the ballot and beating back the petition challenge. We have also demonstrated this by providing voters with detailed proposals
and position statements on all of the major issues facing the people of this state. The voters deserve to hear the points of view of all ballot-qualified candidates in the
debates. This would serve the interest of having a fully informed electorate that can choose the best candidate with the best plans for the people of Illinois, instead of the
candidate who manages to raise the most money for a barrage of television ads. In addition, I believe that the majority of Illinois voters would prefer to hear all candidates’
points of view represented in the debates. I respectfully request the news media in Illinois join us in calling for all candidates to be included in the debates in order to serve the greater public good and the popular will.

At least one sponsor of an upcoming debate, the Illinois Radio Network, has informed me that, as of now, I am not being invited to participate in a debate scheduled for October 2nd. However, they also informed me that their position could change if the other two candidates agree to include me in that debate. Unfortunately, we cannot seem to get a straight answer from the Blagojevich campaign regarding whether I should be included in future debates. When asked by reporters, Mr. Blagojevich has repeatedly dodged the question. On the other hand, at least one Blagojevich spokesperson has stated that the decision is up to the debate sponsors. So if a sponsor tells us it’s up to the other candidates and one other candidate tells us it’s up to the sponsors, I hope you can appreciate that this creates quite a dilemma for us.

I can understand why Mr. Blagojevich may not want to debate me, inasmuch as I have an actual plan for dealing with the state’s budget crisis that does not involve skimping on payments to the pension system and delaying Medicaid payments to health care providers. In fact, recent polls have indicated that a majority of Illinoisans support at least some version of an income tax for property tax swap to fund education in Illinois, yet I am the only candidate in this race who is campaigning on behalf of this majority position. I also have a superior plan to deal with the twin crises of global warming and soaring energy prices that involves developing renewable energy resources other than simply ethanol. Undoubtedly, Mr. Blagojevich does not agree with my assessment. But that’s precisely the point of including all candidates in the debate. Let’s put his ideas, and mine, and Ms. Topinka’s, to the test.

I once again publicly call upon both the Blagojevich and the Topinka campaigns to do the right thing and include all ballot-qualified candidates in all future gubernatorial debates. Let’s get all points of view in front of the voters so that they can make the best informed
decision.