Libertarian denied funds for exclusion from debate
Assembly candidate in Clean Elections district sought help from ELEC
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer
Libertarian state Assembly candidate Jason Scheurer applied for and was denied rescue funds under the Fair and Clean Elections (FACE) Pilot Project that is taking place in the 14th District.

Jason Scheurer

Scheurer was not allowed to take part in a televised News 12 New Jersey interview forum that the other four major party candidates participated in. He and his campaign manager, Lou Jasikoff, hope to go before the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) within the next few days.

"This is worse than an attack ad," said Lou Jasikoff, Scheurer's campaign manager. "You know it comes from a special interest group, that they have agendas. With a news agency, you assume they're unbiased."

However, because it was a news agency involved, the rescue funds were denied.

"They're still classified as a news source, which are not qualified under rescue funds," Jasikoff said.

Jasikoff also had a big problem with the fact Scheurer was never mentioned as a candidate.

"That's the only thing going for us," Jasikoff said. "We weren't mentioned at all."

Randal Stanley, News 12 New Jersey's news director, explained his decision to keep the program to the four major party candidates.

"There are six candidates in that race, but in the interests of giving the public a meaningful program, we limit it to the major party candidates," Stanley said.

Stanley said this only dealt with this particular program.

"In our news coverage in general, we'll cover everybody," Stanley said. "For this particular program, we felt we had to limit it to the four candidates."

Jasikoff said he's received an outpouring of support from local residents.

"You don't know how many people are calling us," Jasikoff said. "People are outraged. All we can do is keep fighting. This is not just for this election, it's for future elections to come."

Scheurer has also received support from most of the other candidates in the race. A video on Scheurer's Web site contains him and Jasikoff approaching the four other candidates about him being left off the television program.

"You have every right to be there," Democrat Wayne DeAngelo said to Scheurer.

Republican Tom Goodwin said that Scheurer should be given equal time and Adam Bushman, also a Republican, agreed that Scheurer should get rescue funds. Democrat Linda Greenstein said that it was fine with her if Scheurer was in the debate, but it was not her decision. She also mentioned

after the debate that she asked if Scheurer could join in.

Jasikoff, however, did single out Greenstein for her noncommittal approach.

"We haven't made any things personal for this campaign, but in this case, we thought she should have stepped up," Jasikoff said.

"Linda told Lou that they're definitely welcome," said Elizabeth Meyers, Democratic campaign spokeswoman. "We've been with them at several community forums."

Another unsuccessful decision was passed upon Scheurer when a state Superior Court judge denied him injunctive relief for having the words "Clean Elections Candidate" printed next to his name on the ballot. Everything else on Scheurer's lawsuit is still pending.

Scheurer filed the lawsuit Oct. 10 for not only that issue but because his public funding is significantly smaller than his major party competitors.

"[The judge] turned us down because the ballot was already printed," Jasikoff said. "We didn't expect injunctive relief - there was not enough time."