To the Editor:



Regarding Tuesday's report that some Syracuse broadcast and cable television stations are ''undecided'' about including me in upcoming congressional candidate debates:



I am ready and eager to debate Republican incumbent Ann Marie Buerkle and the other challenger, Democrat Dan Maffei, in any forum, any time, any place.



Any commercial news organizations that limit coverage and debate to the major party candidates, who are already spending millions with these companies on campaign ads, are surrendering to a conflict of interest that undermines their journalistic independence and credibility.



It is bad enough that millions in private money from outside the district are dominating the airwaves in this congressional race. It would be a travesty if the news coverage and debates replicated this legalized bribery that compromises the integrity of our elections.



The same is true for any candidates who refuse to participate in a debate because I am invited. Candidates for public office owesit to the voters to put their qualifications and platform up against every other ballot-qualified candidate in debates broadcast on the public airwaves. Any candidate who refuses to do so demonstrates no intention of representing all the voters of the district and no intention of upholding our democratic system of government.



Green candidates have been included in all televised debates in Syracuse since 2005. Has something changed?



Money is property, not speech. Elections are about speech, not sales. At a time when the super-rich and giant corporations are pouring hundreds of millions of undisclosed, private ''dark money'' into the 2012 elections, it would be a craven sell-out for publicly licensed broadcast stations to limit debate to only those who pay to play.





Ursula Rozum

Green Party candidate

for Congress, 24th District

Syracuse





