Court Bans Umina From Televised Debate

The Supreme judicial Court yesterday refused to issue an order that would have allowed independent gubernatorial canidate Len Umina to take part in tonight's debate between Republican William F. Weld '66 and Democrat John R. Silber.

A lower court had already ruled against Umina, who alleged that WCVB-TV, WHDV-TV, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald and canidates Weld and Silber illegally excluded him from last week's televised debate.

Umina said the debate amounted to an illegal contribution of funds by the media to Weld and Silber's respective campaign funds.

"The media is not to blame, but they are influenced by the large seven digit revenue accounts of other campaigns," Umina said in an interview. "They do not want to anger these important clients by inviting a competing viewpoint."

Although the court ruled against these allegations last week, Umina appealed the decision, hoping to get an emergency restraining order that would have allowed him to appear with Silber and Weld in the televised debate scheduled for tonight on WHDH-TV.

Gwen Gadge, a spokesperson for The Boston Herald, said the "decisions to include William Weld and John Silber were based on journalistic criteria and that the Boston Herald does not oppose or endorse Umina."

According to Gadge, the "journalistic criteria" were based on "various polls, including the September primary, which indicated that William Weld and John Silber were high visibility canidates."

Throughout his campaign, Umina has claimed to represent "the disenfranchised voters and the middle class professionals who are not politicians." He said these voters are not satisfied with either the Republicans or Democrats.

Umina said that the debates are another instance of the "political elite who control the agenda" going against the benefit of the public. Umina said that his platform is "based on the Jeffersonian theory of democracy which stipulates that government information should be open, public and easily accessible."