By John Seiler

More than two years ago on CalWatchDog.com, I was the first to report that the Top Two voting system would destroy third parties. My article was entitled, “Will Prop. 14 kill third parties?”

It did.

Prop. 14 passed that year. It set up the system we have now, by which anyone, of any party, can run in the June primary. But then only the “top two” winners advance to the November general election.

I reported:

I talked to three of the four top “other parties” or “minor parties,” as they sometimes call themselves. Currently, they’re the only four parties that meet state law to be automatically listed on state primary and general-election ballots. The Peace and Freedom Party didn’t get back to me.

Prop. 14 would be disastrous for minor parties, Libertarian Party spokesman Richard Winger told me.

The other parties I talked to were the Green Party and the American Independent Party.

Critics pointed out that, in other states that had adopted the Top Two system, Washington and Louisiana, no third-party candidate ever had advanced to the finals.

Well that’s just what happened here in our June 5 election. Reported Capitol Weekly:

“no minor-party candidate was among the top voter getters in any of the Assembly, state Senate or congressional races across California. In addition, the law that created the top-two primary eliminated write-in candidates.”

So we’re stuck with the usual Democrats and Republicans who have messed with us for more than a century. Top Two was supposed to bring more “moderate” candidates.

What it really did was reduce choice and shut down dissent.

If a small, Third World country had done this, right now the U.S. president would be sending in the drones.

But a gubernatorial candidate was arrested at tonight’s debate: Green Party hopeful Laura Wells.

This is no joke. The Chronicle’s report is here.

Her campaign sent out an email:

GREEN PARTY GUBERNATORIAL
CANDIDATE ARRESTED at GOVERNOR’S
DEBATE; COURT ON … ELECTION DAY

SAN RAFAEL – Green Party gubernatorial candidate Laura Wells was arrested here Tuesday as she was attempting to legally enter – with a ticket –  the Governor’s Debate at Dominican University. Private security arrested Ms. Wells, handcuffed her and held her against her will until San Rafael Police intervened.

Ms. Wells, based on the citizen arrest by Barbier Security agents for allegedly trespassing, now must appear in court…..ironically, on Election Day, Nov. 2.

“Republicans and Democrats will go to any lengths, even arresting candidates, to keep the truth from California voters. There are solutions, but voters aren’t being allowed to here from independent candidates.  Meg and Jerry will spend tens of millions of dollars in advertising but still won’t address the problems plaguing us,” said Ms. Wells, after being released on her own recognizance.

Ms. Wells, 62, a financial and business analyst, and political activist who resides in Oakland, polled more than 400,000 votes as a candidate for controller in 2002, the most ever polled by a Green Party partisan candidate in California.

With green gags covering their mouths, protestors from the Green Party of California picketed  the Governor debate here Tuesday – upset that although billed as a “eco debate,”  the affair unfairly excludes ballot-qualified Green Party candidate Wells.

“The debate is a fraud. Limiting it to Whitman and Brown is not just anti-green, it is anti-democratic and anti-republican,” said Ms. Wells, noting polls that would qualify a candidate to participate in the debate were invalid because they didn’t even ask voters if they favored Laura Wells. The only choices given to those polled were Whitman or Brown.

Right. As I’ve said before, its disgraceful that, out of 38 million Californians, about 20 million of whom are eligible to run for governor, the Meg and Jerry show was the best we could get. While the “system” shuts out third-party candidates.