The Sacramento Press Club, a non-profit organisation is hosting an apartheid debate luncheon on April 23rd.
They have not invited all the balloted candidates in the CA Secretary of State race, nor have they invited David Curtis, a member of the Sacramento Press Club and Green Party candidate for Secretary of State, despite his polling 3rd place in the Field Poll this week.
The Sacramento Press Club, an organisation of journalists, has no valid excuse for excluding any of the 7 remaining candidates. They have excluded the 3rd place polling candidate and yet have included the 4th and 5th place candidates.
Their decision has no defense.
Curtis spoke with Dennis Revell, an “associate” of the Sacramento Press Club this morning by phone, (916) 443-3816, Dennis’s extension is 205.
Revell said the decision to invite candidates was made before the results of the Field Poll were known.
He also claimed that the format of the event did not allow for more candidates.
Revell made no offer to invite Curtis and when Curtis asked “Does the organisation have a non-profit status?” the representative responded “Yes” to which Curtis replied “I will remove it”.
Curtis then immediately filed a complaint with the Fraud division of the IRS against the Sacramento Press Club for violating their non-profit status by excluding parties and candidates from a debate.
In a second phone conversation later that same day, Curtis asked Revell if he would agree that excluding candidates from a debate harms the candidates campaign? Mr Revell declined to comment.
There are currently 8 balloted candidates in this race, although Leland Yee, a Democratic State Senator withdrew due to criminal charges. Of the 7 remaining candidates, only 4 were invited to participate in the April 23rd debate.
Curtis participated in the first debate hosted by the ACLU of California, in partnership with the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and California Common Cause.
It’s really, really rude to ask that they follow the law, have objective standards and not openly discriminate.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_25593770/timm-herdt-top-drawer-down-ticket-race
I hope you sue them and win.
Thank you Richard, I’ve just requested an opinion from the Attorney General’s office regarding the criteria issue.
For a good decision on the requirement that debate sponsors have objective criteria, see La Botz v FEC, 889 F Supp 2d 51 (D.D.C. 2012).
Updated the post to the revised version, per Mr. Curtis’ request. He also sent me this via Twitter:
David Curtis ?@dc_us 3h
@JedZiggler @SacPressClub also released a FB statement pointing out how I am “rude” and “belligerent”.
It’s almost like he’s trying to win an election or something!
Hmmmm. I wonder how often the law is violated. I have heard of many cases where debate criteria are not revealed.
It concerns federal tax law and only applies to organizations that have tax-exempt status.
Didn’t know about that law. Is it state or federal?
It is illegal for an organization which sponsors a debate to have no objective standards as to which candidates were invited. Because the California Poll, which is highly-respected, shows David with more support than two candidates who were invited, the Sacramento Press Club is on dangerous grounds and could be sued successfully.