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KOIN (Channel 6) will host the first televised debate of the 2018 governor's race tonight at 7 pm.
The debate, held in conjunction with the non-profit Children First for Oregon and the Pamplin Media Group, will feature questions from students for the two leading candidates, incumbent Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat and state Rep. Knute Buehler (R-Bend).
Unlike two other televised debates in the next week, tonight's event will also include Patrick Starnes, a cabinet maker from Brownsville, who is the nominee of the Independent Party of Oregon.
The IPO achieved major party status in 2015 when its membership exceeded five percent of the state's registered voters. But that status doesn't cut much ice with the other television stations hosting debates.
Today, Starnes released his emails with Medford's KOBI (Channel 5) and Portland's KGW (Channel 8). Officials at both stations told Starnes he would not be welcome on their stages.
"We are planning to only host Kate Brown and Knute Buehler for our debate on Oct. 9th," KGW Executive Producer John Tierney told Starnes in an email. "Given our format we need to limit the debate to just two candidates."
KOBI General Manager Bob Wise was more specific in his denial for his station's Oct. 4 debate, telling Starnes he didn't have enough voter supporter to be in front of the cameras.
"The criteria we have set for gubernatorial debates is those participating must be polling above 10%," Wise wrote to Starnes on Oct. 1. "As shown from the latest poll, you are polling at 4 percent."
Starnes says he plans to file an elections complaint against KGW and KOBI stations, arguing they are in effect providing Brown and Buehler free advertising that should be reported as campaign contributions.
Wise told Starnes that reasoning is incorrect. "A debate at a television station is a news event," Wise wrote in an email. "Thus equal access is not required."
