Barbara Johnson Turned Away At Door of Gubernatorial Debate By Ed Oliver October 2, 2002

In an act of defiance, independent candidate for Governor Barbara Johnson drove her campaign fire engine to WPI yesterday despite the decision of a media consortium to exclude her and two other candidates from participating in last night's televised gubernatorial debate.

Dressed in a firefighter's jacket and hat, Johnson told hundreds of Romney and O'Brien supporters standing outside, "I'm here to pour cold water over this so-called 'debate.'"

Johnson led a crowd of youthful protesters in a chorus of "Open up the debates! Open up the debates." But she was turned away at the door by police after she failed to produce a ticket.

"I should not need a ticket to get into the debate. I did what the law requires to get on the ballot by gathering thousands of signatures," said Johnson. "We want intelligent voters. Voters cannot make an intelligent choice if they don't know about the people who are running."

WPI student Dave Voutila, told MassNews, "It should be open to all the candidates that are on the ballot. Barbara Johnson got something like ten thousand signatures to get on the ballot, she has public approval, but they won't let her debate."

Barbara Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein tried to force their way into the debate through the courts, but Middlesex Superior Court Judge Linda Giles denied their request for an injunction yesterday morning. Libertarian candidate Carla Howell also failed yesterday in her bid for an injunction from the Worcester Superior Court.

The Stein campaign said in a statement yesterday that they are weighing their options for legal action at this point. "We're disappointed that the court decided in favor of the corporate media consortium and their closed debates. With this decision, we see the democratic process becoming further privatized. A healthy democracy requires the free exchange of ideas, the meaningful participation of all citizens, and an open and transparent process for making decisions that affect our lives. By sanctioning tonight's debate between the two corporate-sponsored, major party candidates, the courts have dealt democracy another setback."

The Howell campaign told MassNews they will seek civil damages against Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). They charge that Worcester Polytechnic Institute called them two weeks ago to iron out details of her participation in the debate and posted her inclusion at their web site, but then she was disinvited because the Media Consortium sponsoring the event decided to exclude her from participation.

Perhaps in response to the growing level of protest in past weeks, both Mitt Romney and Shannon O'Brien agreed in last night's debate that all the candidates should be included in future debates.

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