OH: Third Party Candidates Call for Inclusive Debates, Oppose Democratic-Republican Bipartisan Front Against all Alternatives

Green Party gubernatorial candidate Dennis Spisak and Socialist Party US Senate candidate Dan La Botz have called for open and inclusive debates in their respective races.  Via IPR, Cincinnati's City Beat reports that the Democratic and Republican party gubernatorial candidates are currently conspiring to ensure that the people of Ohio will not be allowed to witness a debate between all ballot qualified candidates for the office.  The article quotes Dennis Spisak:

As the Green Party nominee for Ohio governor, I think it's a sham that myself and the Libertarian candidate for governor are not invited to the debates,” Spisak said in a prepared statement. “The Ohio Secretary of State has certified that minor party candidates are allowed on the ballots this year, we have paid the same filing fees as Ted Strickland and John Kasich, and had supporters stomp through the winter snowstorms to gather thousands of signatures to place us on the ballot,” Spisak added. “Ohioans deserve to hear all candidates for governor speak. Ted and John will sling mud and refuse to answer specially how they will fix Ohio. I will.

Separately, in an interview with John Michael Spinelli at the Examiner, Socialist Party candidate for US Senate, Dan La Bot, has called for open debates in his race.  Some excerpts from the Examiner:

Dan LaBotz of Cincinnati, the Ohio Socialist Party candidate who garnered fewer than 400 votes statewide on Ohio primary day in early May, is calling on the major Titans in the race, Democrat Lee Fisher and Republican Rob Portman, to include him in any scheduled debates. . . . 

Taking on his big-party, big-candidate rivals, LaBotz wants into the their debates. "We need to have open forums, public meetings, and a genuine debate between representatives of the various political alternatives," he says, so voters don't have to face the "same corporate political duopoly as in the past."

In a recent statement, LaBotz said, ""We need to open up the debates so that the people of Ohio can learn about the real disaster we are facing." . . .

Moreover, he says election debates should be organized by a non-partisan group, such as the League of Women Voters, and should include all parties and candidates, compared to how debates outside of presidential debates are done now.