WHITNEY TO PARTICIPATE IN NON-PARTISAN GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE

Fairview Heights, Illinois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – October 18, 2006

WHITNEY TO PARTICIPATE IN NON-PARTISAN GUBERNATORIAL DEBATE

CONTACT:
Dave Sacks, Office Manager
Whitney for Governor, 773-557-9411
office@...

Rich Whitney, the Green Party's candidate for Illinois Governor, will
participate in a non-partisan gubernatorial debate, sponsored by the
Illinois Free and Equal Elections Coalition (FREE) on Thursday, October 19,
2006. Mark McCoy, the Libertarian Party write-in candidate, and Randy
Stufflebeam, the Constitution Party write-in candidate, have also confirmed
participation in the debate. The debate will be held at the Fountains
Conference Center at Four Points Sheraton, in Fairview Heights, Illinois.
The debate will begin at 6:30 pm with doors opening at 6:00. Venue address
and contact information are as follows:

Fountains Conference Center at Four Points Sheraton
319 Fountains Pkwy.
Fairview Heights, IL 62208
(618) 622-9500

An independent poll of 600 likely voters, conducted by the Glengariff Group
on October 13-15 showed that "an overwhelming 77% of the state’s voters
believe the gubernatorial candidates should hold televised debates before
election day" and "70% of the state’s voters believe these debates should
include Green Party candidate Rich Whitney." 80% of Independents, 70% of
Republicans, and 65% of Democrats believe Whitney should be involved. The
results also showed Rich Whitney polling at 16% amongst central Illinois
voters, and 15% amongst Independents, while drawing equal support from
Democrats and Republicans statewide.

"It's very unfortunate that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to run away from
his civic responsibility to put his ideas to the test of a thorough debate
with all ballot-qualified candidates. All candidates were invited to the
debate that is to take place tomorrow evening in Fairview Heights. This may
be considered an extension of the open challenge that I issued on October
10th; but whether they appear or not, the voters will at least have an
opportunity to hear my point of view, as well as a couple of candidates that
would have probably been on the ballot with me, if not for Illinois'
extremely repressive ballot access laws," said Rich Whitney. Whitney is not
a write-in candidate and will appear on the General Election ballot in
November, as the Green Party's candidate for Governor.

MORE INFORMATION:
www.whitneyforgov.org
www.freeandequal.org

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See also:

www.runrandyrun.com

www.markmccoy.com