Levin, Hoogendyk to debate Sunday on PBS stations, Libertarian candidate shut out

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Carl Levin will face off in a debate with his Republican rival, state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, R-Kalamazoo, on Sunday night on all Michigan PBS affiliates. The debate will be hosted by Grand Valley State University (GVSU), and will air at 7 p.m. It will also be streamed live at the GVSU Web site.

But there is a third party candidate who won’t be present in the debate: Scotty Boman, who is running as a Libertarian. Boman on his blog has posted his e-mail exchange with GVSU’s radio and TV general manager Mike Walenta.

Apparently, Boman does not meet the three criteria set up by PBS to appear in a political debate. Boman’s blog includes an e-mail said to be from Walenta that states:

Candidates must meet all three criteria:
(1) the person seeking to participate must have qualified for the ballot;
(2) the candidate must be running a visible and comprehensive campaign as determined by WGVU; and
(3) the candidate must show a certain fixed level of support — at least 5% — in professionally conducted public opinion polls.

Boman agrees with Walenta that he meets the first criteria, after all he is on the Michigan ballot in November. But he takes issue with the claim that he does not meet the other two criteria. From Boman’s e-mail back to Walenta:

As for # 2…. 2. Define: ”visible and comprehensive campaign” I can’t think of anything my campaign isn’t doing that Jack Hoogendyk’s is doing. The only way I am “less visible” is by being excluded from partisan media events. Thus you have created the very outcome this condition addresses.

3. As for the third, please provide me with the results of one state-wide poll in which I was included as one of the choices. I have looked for such a poll and found none. This again becomes a procedure that fixes the outcome in advance to not satisfy or fail this criterion.

There has been only one poll I could find that asked voters about Boman, conducted in August by WXYZ television in Detroit. The poll found Boman pulling 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively, in the 7th and 9th Congressional Districts. While not a comprehensive state poll, the tally also does not show Boman reaching the 5 percent threshold GVSU is seeking. Hoogendyk himself continues to poll in the low 30s in all major polls.