The fledgling Raycom Media Empire stretching from Albany, Georgia to the outskirts of Macon and spilling over into Ala-damn-bama has intentionally stomped on a fire ant nest. And they will get stung.
LP stalwart Doug Harman, author of the Bitter Patriot blog in Athens has started the ball rolling and you can read it below:
A Little Dialog With Raycom Media About John Monds
I was really angry with Raycom Media after sending them a note about their exclusion of John Monds in their debate tonight, wherein I said:
"I find it increasingly more difficult each day to stomach the exclusion of Mr. John Monds from debates and for that matter even being recognized as a legitimate candidate. For the first time ever, Libertarians are on the ballot for every statewide office available and John Monds is the reason it's possible. When he ran in 2008, for Public Service Commission, John Monds collected 1.2 million votes from people that don't want to have the same ole same ole in state government. 1.2 Million people. 1.2 million Georgians that you are ignoring by your actions. I hope your advertisers understand that you are ignoring 1.2 million potential buyers of their products and services. Shame on you and your station for excluding him from the debate this evening. You are doing a true disservice to your community and the state of Georgia."
The reply came not from the WALB station in Albany, GA where I complained, but from some corporate big wig at Raycom Media.
"I was asked to email you to explain how we reached a decision to not include Mr. Monds in tonight's debate. When we made a decision to hold this debate, we set a standard that a candidate must be polling at 10% or higher to qualify for participation. We used the Rasmussen polling as our guide and at no point did your candidate meet our minimal required threshold.
The reasoning behind this decision is to ensure that we are not opening up our forum to non-viable candidates who's only interest is to further an agenda and not answer the questions being asked. While I'm sure your candidate would have fallen into that category, we have to set some sort of standard to be fair to all. I think you wouldn't have to look any further than last night's New York City mayor's debate to witness the mockery of process our rule is aimed at avoiding.
I hope this answers your questions regarding our decision. If not, feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Larry Silbermann
Regional News Director
912-238-8476
http://www.raycommedia.com/"
My reply, and it's a damned good one too, if I might say so myself:
Larry,
You mock a candidate and the country's third largest party by comparing him to Jimmy McMillan of NY. If you want to play gutter politics and business as usual, that's up to you. It is not your job to vet candidates based on Rasmussen polling data, the State of Georgia has already done the vetting for you. Your job is to present to the state an honest debate of all of the candidates, even if you don't think they can win. It's not up to you.
Regards,
Doug Harman
Athens, GA
If you think Liberty and the Rights of you as a Georgia Voter, or hell any US Citizen for that matter are being infringed upon by the arbitrary bias of some minor market television wannabes, then by all means -
Feel Free To Contact Larry At The Above Address!
"I find it increasingly more difficult each day to stomach the exclusion of Mr. John Monds from debates and for that matter even being recognized as a legitimate candidate. For the first time ever, Libertarians are on the ballot for every statewide office available and John Monds is the reason it's possible. When he ran in 2008, for Public Service Commission, John Monds collected 1.2 million votes from people that don't want to have the same ole same ole in state government. 1.2 Million people. 1.2 million Georgians that you are ignoring by your actions. I hope your advertisers understand that you are ignoring 1.2 million potential buyers of their products and services. Shame on you and your station for excluding him from the debate this evening. You are doing a true disservice to your community and the state of Georgia."
The reply came not from the WALB station in Albany, GA where I complained, but from some corporate big wig at Raycom Media.
"I was asked to email you to explain how we reached a decision to not include Mr. Monds in tonight's debate. When we made a decision to hold this debate, we set a standard that a candidate must be polling at 10% or higher to qualify for participation. We used the Rasmussen polling as our guide and at no point did your candidate meet our minimal required threshold.
The reasoning behind this decision is to ensure that we are not opening up our forum to non-viable candidates who's only interest is to further an agenda and not answer the questions being asked. While I'm sure your candidate would have fallen into that category, we have to set some sort of standard to be fair to all. I think you wouldn't have to look any further than last night's New York City mayor's debate to witness the mockery of process our rule is aimed at avoiding.
I hope this answers your questions regarding our decision. If not, feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Larry Silbermann
Regional News Director
912-238-8476
http://www.raycommedia.com/"
My reply, and it's a damned good one too, if I might say so myself:
Larry,
You mock a candidate and the country's third largest party by comparing him to Jimmy McMillan of NY. If you want to play gutter politics and business as usual, that's up to you. It is not your job to vet candidates based on Rasmussen polling data, the State of Georgia has already done the vetting for you. Your job is to present to the state an honest debate of all of the candidates, even if you don't think they can win. It's not up to you.
Regards,
Doug Harman
Athens, GA
If you think Liberty and the Rights of you as a Georgia Voter, or hell any US Citizen for that matter are being infringed upon by the arbitrary bias of some minor market television wannabes, then by all means -
Feel Free To Contact Larry At The Above Address!
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