Senatorial candidate shut out of debate

Alicia Robinson

Libertarian Senatorial candidate and Orange County Superior Court

Judge Jim Gray won’t be airing his opinions in a televised debate

between U.S. Senate candidates Aug. 10, a Los Angeles judge decided

Tuesday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe denied Gray’s request

for a temporary restraining order to block the League of Women Voters

of California from holding a debate next week between Democratic Sen.

Barbara Boxer and her Republican opponent Bill Jones. Gray argued

that he was unfairly excluded from the debate by the league, which is

a nonprofit, nonpartisan voter education group.

Attempting to meet the league’s requirement of at least a 10%

showing in a poll of likely voters, Gray -- a Newport Beach resident

-- commissioned a poll in which 8% of respondents said he would be

their first choice for senator and 68% said he should be included in

debates.

The league contended Gray didn’t reach the 10% level, and the poll

wasn’t independent, another of its requirements.

After the decision, Gray said his request was hurt by a lack of

case law on the subject, but he wasn’t surprised by the ruling.

“In the trial-court level, you always look for precedent, and

that’s what the judge asked, and that’s probably why he decided the

case the way he did,” Gray said. “It was an uphill fight, and I knew

that going in.”

The League of Women Voters of California wasn’t surprised by the

ruling either, said league consultant Xandra Kayden, a senior fellow

at the School of Public Policy and Social Research at UCLA.

“[Judge Yaffe] was quite clear that there are no grounds for

[Gray’s] argument that we were required to include him,” Kayden said.

The league’s goal is to air the views of viable candidates, and

voters aren’t likely to choose someone they know nothing about, she

said.

“If you’re not at 10% three months before an election that people

have been running for for over a year, the probability is very low

that you’re a viable candidate,” Kayden said.

Getting into a televised debate is pretty much the only shot at

statewide exposure for a third-party candidate like Gray, because

he’s unlikely to raise enough money for that kind of advertising, UC

Irvine political science professor Mark Petracca said.

“It’s extraordinarily important [to appear in debates] because in

a statewide race, the only way to reach people is via TV,” he said.

The polling requirements for the debate create a Catch-22 in which

candidates can’t participate unless they meet a certain standard, but

they can’t get that recognition if they’re not invited to debates,

Petracca said.

But Kayden said it’s not the league’s fault when voters don’t know

who’s running for office.

“It’s not up to us to beat them over the head to make them pay

attention,” she said. “We are reflecting what is viable at the time

when we are doing the debate.”

While Gray won’t appear in the Aug. 10 debate, he plans to appear

with supporters outside the event, which will be held at 6 p.m. at

the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and broadcast live on NBC.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.