Shame, Shame, Shame

Perhaps you saw the Democratic Senate candidate Alan Lichtman, on the news while getting arrested at the Maryland Public Television studios. What you didn't see was my sister, Gail Dobson also getting arrested. Her crime? Standing silently in the vestibule holding a sign which read: "Give Democracy A Chance". (Why do they hate democracy?)

The only blog post I could find on this topic was a conservative blogger who proves how shallow the neocon analysis is. His post makes penis jokes about advice Lichtman got during the arrest. Well, isn't that elevated political discourse?

For the record, here's what the national news didn't tell us in their coverage*:

• The debate was held by the League of Women Voters at the studios of Maryland Public Television (MPT, supported by taxpayer dollars, with a mission to educate and inform the public)
• The standard for admission to the debate (15 percent in the polls by July 1 – two days prior to the filing deadline) was contrary to past practice.
• It excluded all but two old-line politicians running for U. S. Senate in Maryland. Neither of whom, to my knowledge, raised the issue of stifling of debate. Shame on them, too.
• The admission standard, was not only contrary to their past practice, but would have eliminated from the 1994 gubernatorial debates in Maryland, Ellen Sauerbrey. She went on to upset the frontrunner and win the Republican nomination, becoming the first woman nominated for governor by a major party in Maryland. (Just so those conservative boys with their minds stuck on potty humor don't think this is a partisan post.)
• The LWV's arbitrary and late ruling for admission would have eliminated from participation in primary debates every woman who ever sought a major party nomination for president.

I agree with candidate Lichtman: "It is beyond irony that the League of Women Voters, founded by suffragists dedicated to opening politics to the excluded, should now be shutting down the political process in Maryland."

Shame on Maryland Public Television, Shame on the League of Women Voters.

Gail: I'm so proud of you and the example you set.

*Data excerpted from Alan Lichtman's website, which fails to mention Gail's arrest. Oh well, guess she's "just" a campaign worker. Oy.