Political campaigns are full of many small victories and defeats; many battles define a war. A major victory has happened in my campaign for the United States House of Representatives in California's 4th Congressional District, an act that has been playing out over the past weeks.
Leading up to our June 3, 2008 primary, the four candidates on the State ballot for the CA-04 GOP nomination have been invited to more than a dozen various candidate forums and debates across our large rural district. Two of the candidates, Doug Ose and Tom McClintock, are career politicians who reside outside of our district boundary. During the primary season, Ose and McClintock were involved in two debates that deliberately excluded candidates Suzanne Jones and myself from taking the stage, even though we asked to be included. A third 'Ose vs. McClintock' exclusive debate had been planned just days before our primary.
Initially, a group at
http://CitizenVoice.org had planned a public May 28th debate with Doug Ose and Tom McClintock at Sierra College in Rocklin, to be broadcast on KFBK 1530 AM, a newstalk station that features Rush Limbaugh. CitizenVoice describes itself as being involved in the "creation of a major new nonpartisan movement clearly focused on assisting all citizens," yet it refused to allow Jones or myself to participate in their debate. CitizenVoice at first refused to return calls or emails from either Jones or myself, so we reached out to our supporters, who started calling their offices and sending in finely-crafted emails asking them to have us on the bill.
Leading up to this, supporters of my candidacy had been variously disappointed by watching the major media coverage of debates during the primary campaign, some of which completely ignored that I had been in attendance and talking through the microphone addressing questions in front of a live audience. Here is an excellent blog piece that explains some of what was happening with press coverage:
Media Disinformation: First Hand
http://www.rejectsociety.com/index.php/2008/05/01/media-disinformation-first-hand/I'm not sure how many calls and emails were directed at the CitizenVoice offices complaining about their exclusion of Jones and myself from their planned debate, but I was cc'd on many emails that were sent. This had to have some impact on Gary Dietrich, who is both the President of CitizenVoice and an announcer at KFBK radio, who began emailing the Jones campaign and myself to explain why we were not being welcomed in his debate. I posted some of our email correspondence directly to myspace:
Radio host attempts to justify efforts to fix elections...
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=197955307&blogID=395156375
Fortunately, I have managed to spend a great deal of time pouring over Federal Election Commission (FEC) regulations in advance of my campaign, and- while campaigning- have learned various things about FCC campaign restrictions firsthand from various radio hosts in our community. For example, even with deregulation, there are still election restrictions for FCC regulated airspace such as AM radio; I know this because some stations- while supporting me as a candidate- did not want to be forced to offer equal airtime to candidates they oppose and therefore would not have me on-air at their studio. It was clear that Dietrich, CitizenVoice and KFBK were doing something questionable, so I started sifting through my copy of the FEC CFR and found codes directly relating to our situation. FEC CFR 110.13 (c) describes how staging organizations such as CitizenVoice- in accord with radio stations such as KFBK- are allowed to exclude candidates from debates on AM airspace in the 30 days before a primary election if they have objective, pre-determined criteria in place. It was clear from the CitizenVoice website and also email communication with Dietrich and his other staff that they had none of that in place. I called the FEC in Washington and was connected to a Commissioner there, who encouraged me to file an FEC electioneering communications complaint against CitizenVoice and KFBK. I sent this information to Dietrich, CitizenVoice and candidate Suzanne Jones, who is an attorney. Jones was able to find additional FEC CFR codes relating to the use of public space, such as the state funded college where the debate had been scheduled.
While this process had been unfolding, I'd been talking to various folks in the local media about what was happening, as was Jones. A small paper in our district, the Auburn Journal, decided to write about what was going on with KFBK, and had their reporter contact Jones and myself for a feature story:
Candidates want to have say in debates: Jones,
Terbolizard excluded from some public events
http://auburnjournal.com/detail/84651.html I was quoted accurately: "You have to pick your battles wisely and this is the battle to pick," Terbolizard said. "This is the last straw. If we are not viable candidates, then the people should be able to see for themselves."
Further, discussions were happening between all the candidates and some of their staff regarding the exclusion of Jones and myself from the May 28 event; both the Ose and McClintock camps wanted us involved. Even the democrats, especially Wolf Wolfgram, were siding with Jones and myself. After attending approximately a dozen debates together, it was clear that the dialog was more interesting, and more focused on issues, when it wasn't just Ose and McClintock on stage. Ose and McClintock, when presented as a duo, turn into a bitter, nit-picking snoozefest focused on each other and not the issues when there are no other voices to either back them up or challenge their views. It was clear to many people that it wasn't good for our party to exclude ideas and discussions as we head into the future.
Then, less than a week before the May 28 event, a moment of elation as word comes through the venerable redcounty placer blog that Dietrich and CitizenVoice cancelled the Sierra College debate:
Score One for the Lizard and Mrs. Jones ---
http://www.redcounty.com/placercountyca/2008/05/score-one-for-the-lizard-and-m/This was followed up shortly by news that KFBK were having an in-studio debate instead of at the Rocklin campus, again, with word coming through redcounty placer:
Debate Update - KFBK is Hosting all 4 Candidates
http://www.redcounty.com/placercountyca/2008/05/debate-update-kfbk-is-hosting/Later that day I spoke with folks from KFBK and confirmed for May 28th. The debate will be streaming live from their website:
Wed, May 28, 7pm PT
4th Congressional District Debate
Newstalk 1530 KFBK Sacramento
Wednesday, May 28 @ 7pm
live stream: http://kfbk.com/pages/debates.html
This whole process has been a major victory, and there are many components involved. Clearly, the United States public knows something is very wrong with the way major media outlets cover news, especially political news; this is a source of motivation that- in the context of our congressional race- could be focused into action on a specific event with a favorable result. Many thanks need to be extended to: supporters who directed phone calls and emails to the original, exclusionary event organizers; bloggers who covered the story; people who left comments on news websites- both large and small- on this topic; newspaper editors and journalists who listened and wrote about what was happening; the other candidates and their staff for their support; the FEC for free consultation, and anyone else who thought about or talked about what was happening. If we work together, we can transform the world around us for the better; our well-being depends on it. Be involved. You make a difference.
Ted Terbolizard
Gold Country, California
more related:
Score a win for Ted Terbolizard in California!!
http://breakthematrix.com/node/8756
Media Blackout on Terbolizard
http://www.rosevillept.com/detail/83645.html
Media Blackout on Libertarian Candidates
http://www.rejectsociety.com/index.php/2008/05/08/media-blackout-on-libertarian-candidates/
Doug Ose And Tom Mcclintock May 28 At Sierra College
http://www.rocklintoday.com/news/templates/community_news.asp?articleid=6184&zoneid=4
IMPORTANT UPDATE ON THE 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT PRIMARY DEBATE
http://citizenvoice.org/events.shtml
"Due to security concerns that have been referred to law enforcement, the 4th Congressional District candidate forum scheduled for May 28th at Sierra College has been cancelled. We are sincerely disappointed that these increasingly significant concerns necessitated this step. All the best to the citizens and voters of the 4th CD. We encourage your thoughtful participation as you select a new representative to send to Washington."