From The Topeka Capital Journal

Libertarian's pitch for spot in radio debate falls on deaf ears

WIBW sticking to standards in denying Umbehr place on Hutch stage

Posted: August 22, 2014 - 3:39pm

By Rick Dean

rick.dean@cjonline.com

The Libertarian Party candidate in the Kansas governor's race says he is disappointed to be excluded from the Sept. 6 gubernatorial debate scheduled at the Kansas State Fair.

But Keen Umbehr also says that, as a Libertarian, he respects a private company's decision to set its own policies and standards.

The private company is WIBW 580 Radio, the event organizer and originator of a statewide radio network that will carry the debate between Republican Gov. Sam Brownback and Democratic challenger Paul Davis. The Topeka radio station has determined that Umbehr doesn’t meet one of its qualifications for inclusion in the debate — that a candidate must have raised more than $50,000 in campaign contributions that are not self-funded.

Umbehr, of Alma, said in a news release Friday that he has pledged more than $50,000 of his own money to his campaign, but that outside contributions total only about $16,000. He said he made a personal plea for inclusion to Kelly Lenz, 580 Radio's farm director who will moderate the State Fair gubernatorial debate, but was told the radio station would stand by the criteria it established.

WIBW Radio's decision, Umbehr said in his statement, "denies thousands of Kansas voters the opportunity to hear the exchange of ideas on the serious issues facing the state of Kansas, such as: the governor’s discriminatory income tax plan, school finance and the denial of due process for teachers, RPS funding, the SEC complaint against Kansas, and governmental accountability and transparency — just to name a few.”

Even so, Umbehr added, he appreciates that a radio station is free to set the standards for a debate it is organizing. “This is what liberty is about,” he noted.

Umbehr said he meets the station's other criteria for inclusion, including the stipulation that a candidate poll at 5 percent or better in an independent pre-election poll. Nine percent of respondents to a Public Policy Poll said Umbehr would be their choice as governor, the polling agency announced recently.

Umbehr isn't giving up at a berth in the debate lineup. He is hoping Brownback and Davis will make a personal appeal to WIBW to allow the Libertarian to participate.

“There will be three names on the November ballot, and in the interest of fairness, Kansans should be allowed to hear from all three candidates,” he said.

Even if he doesn't appear with the other candidates in Hutchinson, Umbehr said he would accept Lenz's offer of a one-hour spot on a 580 news-talk program on Friday, Sept. 9.

The gubernatorial radio debate will be carried over the Kansas Radio Networks at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 6.