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KLAS TV 8 News - Nexstar Media Group Hit With FEC Complaint Over U.S. Senate Debate

U.S. Senate Candidate Barry Michaels Files FEC Complaint Against KLAS TV Channel 8 News Now over Proposed Debate

It’s time millions of voters get a voice other than those of traditional party platforms.”
— Barry Michaels

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, UNITED STATES, August 24, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today more than ever, Americans want a greater choice when casting their vote for political candidates. Our two-party system is no longer functioning as intended while Congress often standstill and remains silent. More and more voters are choosing to separate themselves from political parties and register as Independents. Nearly one third of all voters (311,388) in Nevada have disassociated themselves from either party and deserve to hear an alternative voice in the upcoming debate.
Even though Independents represent a large segment of voters, candidates who choose to run as Independent’s face extensive hurdles and are often silenced by party influence. Public debates are a critical means whereby a candidate’s voice can be heard and discriminating against that surely amounts to an illegal means of influencing our elective system and doing irreparable harm. Public interest is best served by allowing debates to take place with multiple candidates with different views.

THE LAW
§ 11 CFR 110.13 Candidate debates.

Although broadcasters are exempt from this law it is a conditional exemption providing the station meets the “objective” requirement of candidate selection.
(a) Staging organizations.
​(b) Debate structure. The structure of debates staged in accordance with this section and 11 CFR 114.4(f) is left to the discretion of the staging organizations(s), provided that:
(1) Such debates include at least two candidates; and
(2) The staging organization(s) does not structure the debates to promote or advance one candidate over another.
(c) Criteria for candidate selection. For all debates, staging organization(s) must use pre-established objective criteria to determine which candidates may participate in a debate. For general election debates, staging organizations(s) shall not use nomination by a particular political party as the sole objective criterion to determine whether to include a candidate in a debate. For debates held prior to a primary election, caucus or convention, staging organizations may restrict candidate participation to candidates seeking the nomination of one party, and need not stage a debate for candidates seeking the nomination of any other political party or independent candidates.

KLAS TV 8 states in their letter “a candidate must have reported, on official forms filed with the appropriate election authority, accepting $50,000 in monetary, as opposed to in-kind, campaign contributions, at least 25 percent of which must be raised from in-state constituents.” The FEC has determined that to be objective, a criterion “must be free of content bias, and not geared to the selection of certain pre-chosen participants.” Although the term "objective" is not defined in the regulation itself, it has generally been described by courts as referring to evidence of "the sort that can be supplied by disinterested third parties,"

Political candidate’s viability should not be measured by donated amounts. What one candidate can do with one amount, another may be able to do with half that amount. Under Respondent’s policy a candidate who receives the maximum personal donation from 18 individuals would be considered a valid candidate.

BarryMichaels
Barry Michaels For U.S. Senate 2018
7024150905
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