You’ve got to question anyone who wants Illinois’ U.S. Senate seat that’s been stained by Rod Blagojevich (and, some would argue, Roland Burris). But as Democrats line up to make a go at joining Scott Brown in Washington, one candidate is feeling a little more than slighted: Jacob Meister was denied a spot in last night’s televised Democratic debate. Because he’s gay?
Meister, who’s trailing other Dems with a recent poll showing support of just five percent, is taking the matter up with the FCC. It all started when Meister and WTTW Channel 11 station producer Jay Smith went back and forth over whether he’d be included. In the end, he was snubbed, but because the event was, according to WTTW, a “forum” and not a “debate,” the station is in the clear of FCC law, which requires “equal access” for political candidates. (Alexi Giannoulias, the frontrunner, debated forum-ed Cheryle Jackson and David Hoffman.)
Which has Meister claiming discrimination.
“The only fact, which appears to distinguish Mr. Meister from any of the other Democratic Party candidates, is that Mr. Meister is gay,” said Meister attorney David Axelrod, who shares no relation to the White House staff member of the same name.
Meister said “WTTW’s decision to exclude me isn’t based on any reasonable or accurate standard, whether in a court of law or the court of public opinion. My inclusion is about access. It is about fairness and the right of every Illinois voter to be given the opportunity to choose the candidate who he or she believes is best suited to hold the office of United States senator.”
“WTTW is not a commercial broadcast station. It is a public entity funded by the state of Illinois and the federal government,” Axelrod said. “As a public agent, WTTW has a legal and moral responsibility to provide the citizenry with an unbiased point of view. The only reason we can see for Mr. Meister’s exclusion is his sexual orientation.”
Libertarian and proud of it
What did you expect? Democrats pander to the same Christian-Race Hitler fanatics that the GOP panders to. Remember when Obama was being addressed by Rick Warren? Remember that smug look on his face when he said “marriage is between a man and a woman.” He and other Democrats have NO PROBLEM keeping gays oppressed because it bodes well for the long-term donations.
2020, unless we start fighting HARD for our rights, unless we start going door-to-door and having conversations with our neighbors, unless we take LGBT OUT of politics and IN to grassroots marketing we will be having the same debates in ten years that we are today.
RS
“Meister, who’s trailing other Dems with a recent poll showing support of just five percent…”
It is not uncommon for organizations providing for debates to limit it to candidates whose polling exceeds a certain percentage — provided that the criteria is clear and pre-announced. In San Francisco, our mayoral debates would end up with 30 or more candidates debating instead of 3 to 5 if this wasn’t followed. Unfortunately, the linked article doesn’t go into those sorts of details.
Leslie
The poll that WTTW was using was 6 weeks old. Didn’t we learn anything from the Coakley-Brown MA race? Coakley saw a 15% lead end in a 3% loss in, I think, a weeks time. So what’s your point?
RS
I’m not saying polls are the end-all-be-all. The article this links to ignores the polls entirely, so I have no idea where his competitors are. But he claims that the only difference is that he’s gay, while admitting that he was lowest in the polls, which indicates that it wasn’t the ONLY difference.
I just like responsible journalism that’s complete.
Lukas P.
Meister will get free publicity for making this complaint about anti-gay bias, but his name barely would register a beep on the political radar otherwise. The candidates chosen by WTTW for the forum have name recognition and track records. You’d have to look at the criteria WTTW used to select candidates for the forum and see if Meister met them. So far, he hasn’t seemed to generate much buzz or PR. Perhaps a State Senate bid or one for a less contested office would have been a better idea?
Fil F.
Hey,
I live in Chicago area and watched this forum. this PBS station has been doing a few other forums for other state and county offices and this is the only one that had excluded some candidates running (so far). Although I think there was another candidate excluded for this forum.
I don’t think they have had the Republican US Senate candidates’ forum yet, that would be interesting. One candidate accused another of being in the closet.
I don’t believe it. I think the accuser is trying to raise his profile. He is probably way below a 5% threshold.
article about the accusation:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/elections/chi-kirk-martin-29-dec29,0,7364395.story
Leslie
RS a more detailed article about 40% of voters undecided.
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=101368
Dave
I am gay and I am tired of Jacob playing the “gay victim” card in this campaign. He was not the only candidate excluded from the WTTW forum…another candidate also was not invited. Jacob and Robert Marshall – the other candidate excluded – are both polling only about 1 percent in polls of Democrats who intend to vote in Tuesday’s primary. This is the reason he was not included in the forum.
Early in the campaign Jacob also cried foul when David Hoffman repeatedly said he is the only candidate who is married and raising children. Jacob called it a gay slur because he cannot legally get married. Yet at the same time he is using his sexual orientation to further his campaign in the glbt community. If Jacob is going to use his sexual orientation to garner votes he can’t criticize Hoffman for using his orientation to further his campaign.
I’ve met Jacob and he might be a nice guy but his attempts to portray himself as a victim turns me off.