Five of Nevada’s third-party or non-partisan gubernatorial hopefuls have penned an angry letter about being excluded from the upcoming debate between Rory Reid and Brian Sandoval.
The news director for the sponsoring television station told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that candidates need to meet “objective criteria designed to limit the event to candidates with viable campaigns”:
The criteria include showing a campaign has reported at least $50,000 in contributions to the secretary of state, and showing the candidate has either received 10 percent of the vote in the June primary, 10 percent support in an opinion poll deemed credible by the organizers, or 10 percent of the vote in a prior election for the same or a similar office.
The letter specifically calls out VegasPBS, a public broadcasting station, for “exclusionary tactics” and says public funding “should not be used to prevent candidates for elected office from receiving time in public debate.” The five candidates say they are considering “legal options” and plan to file complaints related to taxpayer funds being used to “advance this event with such bias.”