John Jay getting jacked?

When people ask why more people don't run for office, this is a good example.  Seems WFAA doesn't want to include other candidates in their debate.  WHY? 

Number 5 is our favorite.  Good luck to the real candidates out there.  If you ain't got money, you're going to need luck.

WHO decides an election?  How can you vote for a candidate you don't know exists?

I sent an email to WFAA in regards to why I am not included in their debate, in return we got a form letter which listed 5 criteria that they use to judge whether I should be included. This is my reply to that:

I believe the main thing to consider is, am I a valid candidate, with valid issues, running a real campaign, who has ballot access? The answer to those four is yes. I would ask you how do you believe the public hears about a candidate? You can google Paul Sadler right now, if you don't include coverage of simply the fact that he is the Democratic nominee and that the news has made it a contest between him and Cruz, I am wildly more popular. Do the same thing with our Youtube channels. If I were mentioned anywhere near as much as Sadler I would be polling at 40%.

Here is your criteria with my numbered response:

 · Receives significant levels of public support in independent public opinion polls (e.g. 15 percent, which is the minimum used by the Commission on Presidential Debates).

1. Can you list the polls that you are using that have included my name? Obviously if my name is not included in the polls it's pretty hard to get a sense of where I stand.

· Has received substantial campaign contributions from varied sources.

2. We have received over $11,000 in campaign contributions most of it in $20-50 increments, from all over Texas. As you know, this also means that we have met the FEC threshold.

· Has received a substantial level of votes in prior elections for the same or comparable office.

3. I don't believe I have ran for a comparable office. I also do not believe that during any other election the media has ever mentioned my name.

· Expected to be reported by news agencies in election night returns.

4. This criteria doesn't make sense, this is more like the news... making the news. You should just cover candidates.

· Has received significant news coverage from a wide range of media outlets.

5. Kind of self fulfilling prophecy here isn't it? The media ignores you and then tells you that they ignore you because you don't get enough media. The media tells you that you do not poll well enough, but does not include you in the polls.

But I would suggest we have gotten coverage. We didn't start our campaign until after the primaries so we wouldn't have to combat the media hype with our limited resources, little did we know that the media outlets would consider the election over after the primaries. We did a tour of Texas last week with our staff, and had a reasonable amount of coverage. I imagine if the media mentioned my name every once in a while most of the criteria you have listed would be met.

Here is some press from last week: http://johnjaymyers.com/press/

Thank you for this list, it will be helpful with our filing with the FCC.

The media should not be in the game of political manipulation. I would imagine both Cruz and Sadler have already appeared independently on your channel, probably numerous times.

If you understood how hard it is just to achieve ballot access, and then how hard it is to run a campaign when the media ignores you, you might be more sympathetic. You have set up a system where there can be no winning, not without millions of dollars. I do not believe that is the foundation this country was based on.

I do understand having reasonable criteria for a candidate to be considered. I believe I have met standards that would be considered reasonable by any stretch of the imagination.

 As a news source you can not say "Do they have a chance of winning?", you must say "Do the people of Texas deserve to know about all of the valid candidates in the race" it is your job to inform about elections, not determine them.

Paul Sadler does not inspire the Democrats, my anti-war, pro civil liberties message does. Ted Cruz only fires up the hard core right, I will win over the Ron Paul people and the independents. I make this race interesting, otherwise you are just handing it to Cruz.

Thank you,
John Jay Myers