Home >  Local News

Wednesday, October 16, 2002

By The Associated Press

WILKES-BARRE -- After being upstaged in a televised debate by a Libertarian who ripped up money and a Green Party member who declared that a Democrat would be Pennsylvania's next governor, Republican Mike Fisher asked yesterday that third-party candidates be barred from the next gubernatorial debate.

In a letter to the debate's organizers, the Fisher campaign said Libertarian Ken Krawchuk and Michael Morrill of the Green Party aren't serious candidates and should be replaced at the Oct. 20 forum by the Democratic and Republican candidates for lieutenant governor.

"What was shown last night by the two third-party candidates is that, for them, there is not a seriousness or an importance to this race," said Fisher's campaign manager, Kent Gates. "You have one candidate who is violating federal law by destroying currency, and the other guy who is mocking the process by admitting that he has no chance to win."

The Easton Express-Times, which is sponsoring the debate at the State Theater in Easton, said it won't retract its invitations.

Fisher's request came a day after Morrill and Krawchuk, whose campaigns have barely registered in opinion polls, stole the show in the race's second formal debate, broadcast from Wilkes University.

At one point, Krawchuk pulled out his wallet and tore up money to illustrate how state politicians waste taxpayer dollars.

Morrill angered Fisher's staff by declaring in his closing statement that no one would be able to beat Democrat Edward G. Rendell.