Statement regarding Independent Party candidate's participation in Gubernatorial debate

From Bob Wise, Vice President/General Manager, KOBI-TV/NBC5

KOBI-TV/NBC5 recently received a request from the Independent Candidate for Governor of Oregon, Cliff Thomason, to participate in the Gubernatorial Debate NBC5 is hosting Thursday, Oct. 13. NBC5 announced an agreement with Governor Kate Brown and Dr. Bud Pierce on Aug. 8, 2016 that NBC5 would be hosting a Gubernatorial Debate between the two candidates. The first correspondence received by NBC5 for inclusion of Mr. Thomason to participate was Oct. 6, 2016, two months after NBC5’s announcement of hosting a Gubernatorial Debate.

This will be the seventh US Senate or Gubernatorial Debate NBC5 has carried in the past ten years. NBC5 has used a benchmark of a candidate polling at 10 percent of the electorate to participate, and Mr. Thomason does not meet that minimum percentage.

NBC5 will welcome the opportunity for Mr. Thomason to do a 5on5 interview segment with Craig Smullin, and look forward to getting that interview scheduled within the next couple of weeks.