Democrat's candidate for State Senate 20 seeks to limit debate of issues

Press release from Tim Kettler -

This week Democrat Rick Shriver challenged Rep. Jimmy Stewart to a nine-county series of debates and made it clear in no uncertain terms that I was not invited. After initially accepting, now as a matter of fairness Mr. Stewart now refuses to debate unless I am included. You can imagine the Democrat outcry after that announcement! This story has received and will continue to receive a lot of media attention until this issue is resolved. The debates are important and should absolutely occur with all the candidates participating. Currently the Shriver campign has no intention of allowing me in any of "their" debates while Mr. Stewart insists on my participation. Our campaign immediately issued this press release:

For Immediate Release:
August 21, 2008
Contact: Tim Kettler
kettler-media@hughes.net
www.votekettler.com

GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE, TIM KETTLER REJECTS “PHONY DEBATES”.
Recently two District 20 Ohio Senate candidates agreed to a series of debates that excludes Green Party candidate Tim Kettler. The debates, one in each county throughout the nine-county district have been agreed to by Democrat Rick Shriver and Republican Jimmy Stewart. The Shriver campaign has said it will not invite Kettler and the Stewart campaign agreed.

Kettler, who has previously run for Ohio Secretary of State and was the first candidate to file papers for the election argues that this debate as proposed cannot be taken seriously. “I won my place on the ballot under the rules set by the two major parties which required me to gather twenty-five times the amount of signatures required of a Republican or Democrat. Pretending that such a “debate” is in the best interests of the voting public is ridiculous”, Kettler said.

Kettler accuses the two candidates of "playing dodgeball" on the issues and "pandering to the same tired old themes of no taxes and social values that have not solved our problems in the past. These candidates are ignoring the issues that are driving our jobs overseas and draining our local treasuries." Kettler says that the public shouldn’t expect much substance. “Obviously a third-party participant will take the discussion in a direction that neither of the candidates may feel comfortable with. Other than a softball question and answer session and some sniping back and forth over gutter level personal attacks such an event won’t offer the voters much information”.

“Given the numerous serious issues district residents will be facing now and in the future such arrogance on the part of candidates should not be tolerated. Will these candidates have the courage to state their positions on the effects that the war in Iraq is having on our state and its residents? Will we hear any real reform proposals that would match the scope of my plan to extend health care coverage to every Ohio worker and resident without exclusion? Will either Shriver or Stewart discuss the impact on our environment and our future by the fossil fuel and energy industries? Can either of these candidates justify the role that their parties have played in corrupting our electoral process? I doubt that any meaningful results will come from such a sham”, Kettler concluded.

Kettler feels that a debate that excludes him will not serve the working men and women of the district, “Just like most district residents I come home from work every evening dirty and tired and that perspective is an essential part of the discussion. Candidates have a responsibility to contribute to an informed electorate and every voter, media outlet and civic organization should reject these phony debates”, he said in closing.

So that's it in a nutshell and it appears that Mr. Shriver flatly refuses to debate. Apparently he would oppose the participation of any third party, say Libertarian for example, as well. Yeah riiiiiiight! His campaign has described me as a marginal candidate with no hope of winning and a distraction. I will gladly put my standing in this race up against either of the other candidates but he is correct about the distraction part. I intend on distracting the voters away from the dog and pony show that was about to occur. My most recent official statement on this matter is as follows:

"The public's perception of Mr. Stewart's motives are no more relevant to my right to participate than are Mr. Stewart's motives themselves. The fact of the matter is a candidate's duty and responsibility to an informed electorate takes precedence over any strategic or policy concerns. In short, if Mr. Stewart does the right thing by accident it is still the RIGHT THING to do. I fully expect to challenge and work for votes from likely Republican voters as well as Democrats. Mr. Shriver's paranoia may be more justified than anyone realizes or will acknowledge but that is merely an aside to the facts."

You can view all the articles and press releases about this subject on the newspage of my website at

http://www.votekettler.com/02_news_events.html

Once again a Democratic candidate is showing contempt for the democratic process. Rick Shriver is attempting to exclude Green Party Candidate, Tim Kettler from the proposed debates. He is following the time-tested, democracy-trashing tradition of the Democratic Party whose majority in Congress just can't seem to represent the public will and whose Presidential Candidate, John Kerry, reneged spectacularly on his pledge to "count every vote."

When Kerry abandoned Ohio to the corrupt 2004 elections a recount effort was left to "a marginal candidate," Tim Kettler. Kettler had been a candidate for Ohio Secretary of State. Operating on a shoestring budget, routinely excluded from debates, ignored by the corporate media, and using a small handful of volunteers he was able to reach and win the votes of 83, 000 Ohioans. That is support from 80,000 more voters than Shriver can claim in his political efforts. After the election Kettler organized the recount effort in Central Ohio that brought to light practices and policies that still demand reform and accountability. Since then he has been active politically and in the courts defending the integrity of our voting system.

Shriver is right to fear Kettler's participation. His Green Party policies resonate with the people of Ohio. He would be confronted with a real progressive whose populist priorities would go far beyond the corporate approved parameters of the Democrats and blow their tedious little "party of the people" fairy tale all to hell. The last thing the Democratic Party wants is for Kettler to bypass their maze of barriers to independent open democratic participation in our elections and for his message to get to the voters.