Debate Sponsors: Do The Right Thing, Invite Whitney and Jones!

Rich Whitney and LeAlan Jones are being excluded from major debates scheduled before Election Day.  You can help convince the debate sponsors to DO THE RIGHT THING and invite the Green Party’s candidates to these debates.

Spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, and beyond.

Become fans of the pages we’ve set up calling on the debate sponsors
to DO THE RIGHT THING and include Rich and LeAlan. You can find the
pages here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Do-the-Right-Thing-Put-Rich-Whitney-in-the-Debates/149282351770665

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Do-the-Right-Thing-Put-LeAlan-Jones-in-the-Debates/157335154299352

After you become fans of the pages, forward them on to your friends.
We need all the help we can get pushing these efforts through social
media. The debate exclusions are not being talked about very much in
the press, so we’ve got to get the word out far and wide through other
channels.

Monitor the Media, Write Letters to the Editor

One of the most important things people can do now is just pay
attention to the news stories coming out about the Governor and Senate
races. When you see a substantive article that leaves Rich or LeAlan
out, or just brushes them aside with an “also running” blurb at the
very bottom, post a comment! In the comment, say that you want to see
future articles talk about Rich’s or LeAlan’s positions – and when
appropriate, also emphasize that they need to be included in the
debates because of the weakness of their opponents’ positions. If you
need talking points, we’ve got some up on the DO THE RIGHT THING
Facebook pages linked above, and also toward the bottom of this
message.

Two other big things you can do to help. First, write a letter to the
editor of your local newspaper. Especially downstate, a lot of people
still rely on the daily paper as their main source of news, and many
of those papers are very willing to print most any letter to the
editor, especially about the elections. It’s a very important way to
help spread the word.

Second, if you come across an article that treats Rich or LeAlan
positively, and especially if it says they belong in the debates,
please let us know, so we can add it to the archive that we’ll be
presenting to the debate sponsors. The more the media speaks out that
what the debate sponsors are doing is wrong, the better the likelihood
they’ll change course and DO THE RIGHT THING.

Call and email the debate sponsors directly.

It’s a simple message, and one we want to make sure they hear hundreds
of times: DO THE RIGHT THING! As civic organizations whose missions
clearly state that they are supposed to inform voters, it is
inexcusable for the League of Women Voters and the City Club to use
highly questionable polls as a basis for excluding candidates –
especially when those candidates are the ones with the strongest
ideas, who can add the most to the debates.

If you call or email the League of Women Voters or the City Club, be
sure to give your name, your city and/or neighborhood, and
specifically tell them to DO THE RIGHT THING and invite Rich Whitney
and LeAlan Jones to the debates. You can also pick from this list of
talking points:

• Rich Whitney is the only candidate for Governor with a comprehensive
plan for balancing the budget, making taxes fairer, creating good
jobs, and improving schools.

• In 2006, Rich Whitney received over 361,000 votes in 2006 – more
than 10% of the vote.

• LeAlan Jones is a Peabody Award Winner and Robert F. Kennedy Grand
Prize Winner for his pioneering works “Ghetto Life 101” and “Remorse:
the 14 Stories of Eric Morse”. He has strong name recognition,
especially on the South Side and West Side of Chicago – recognition
which would not easily reflect in polls.

• The Green Party is one of three major parties under Illinois law –
just like the Democrats and Republicans. The Peoria Journal-Star
recently editorialized that the debates need to be opened up, and
pointedly said that as major party candidates, Greens should
absolutely not be excluded.

• Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune recently wrote: “Of the five
candidates for governor… Green Party nominee Rich Whitney was the best
spoken, had the best command of the facts and, in my opinion, had the
most sensible ideas for moving Illinois forward.”

• Edward McClelland of NBC5 recently wrote that LeAlan Jones shows “a
more sophisticated grasp of economics and foreign policy than Kirk and
Giannoulias.”

• Quinn, Brady, Kirk, and Giannoulias are all widely disliked by
voters. Voters badly want to hear from articulate candidates who will
offer ideas of substance – the League and City Club should not deny
voters that opportunity.

To contact the League of Women Voters of Illinois:
Phone: 312-939-5935
Email: President Nancy Marcus – president@lwvil.org
Email: Executive Director Jan Czarnik – execdirector@lwvil.org

To contact the City Club of Chicago:
Phone: 312-565-6500
Email: Executive Director David Cameron – dcameron@cityclub-chicago.com

SIGN UP FOR OUR VOLUNTEER LIST!

We will need even more help these last three weeks, and an excellent
way to get involved is to sign up for our Volunteers list, where
you’ll see a lot more in the way of volunteer opportunities.  Send an
email to:

volunteers-subscribe@lists.ilgp.org

If you’d like any additional information about volunteer
opportunities, or would like to know more about what’s happening with
efforts toward the debates, check out the candidate webpages:

whitneyforgov.org
lealanforsenate.org

You can also email us at volunteers@ilgp.org to find out about things
happening with local campaigns close to you.  And look for an
overhauled website at www.ilgp.org later this week!

Thank you in advance to everyone – with your help we will get into
these debates, and when the people of Illinois can see side by side
how much stronger our candidates are than our opponents, we will have
incredible momentum on our side straight through Election Day!