Joe Kent Campaign Violates Host Rules of Saturday Debate in Vancouver

Oct. 20—After a debate in Vancouver on Saturday hosted by the League of Women Voters, the organization says the Joe Kent campaign has violated the rules after agreeing to them prior to the televised event.

The campaigns of both Kent and opponent Democratic candidate Marie Gluesenkamp Perez agreed in advance not to use edited video for campaign purposes, said Clark County League president Nancy Halvorson in a news release.

Three posts uploaded after the debate on the verified "Joe Kent for WA-3" Twitter account feature heavily edited portions of the video, including a link to an 11-minute interview with Republican figure Steve Bannon that opens with more than two minutes of juxtaposed close-ups of Perez and Kent from the debate.

Bannon referred to the edited video as "powerful" when he began his interview with Kent, the League wrote in the release.

The Twitter account on Sunday also featured a 59-second clip of Kent's debate closing statement. And on Monday, the same account featured an 82-second composite of clips from the debate video. The latter included splices of audio and video of President Biden and of the debate moderator asking the audience to refrain from outbursts.

Before the event, the rules stated, "Any campaign use of the recording must include the full debate. No candidate will be allowed to edit the footage for campaign purposes."

Halvorson continued in the news release: "The League's goal always is to provide voters with information about candidates and issues so they can make informed decisions. ... We do not exist to provide fodder for political campaigns."

The release stated the League asked the campaign to take the posts down. By Wednesday morning, the Kent page had not done so. A League of Women Voters representative said Wednesday a cease and desist letter would be sent to the campaign.

The Vancouver debate was hosted by the League of Women Voters of Clark, Cowlitz, Lewis and Klickitat-Skamania counties. It was sponsored by five local news outlets — the Chinook Observer in Ilwaco, The Chronicle in Centralia, The Columbian in Clark County, the Daily News in Longview and The Skamania County Pioneer. Journalists from the five newspapers worked with League members to prepare questions for the candidates.

For full coverage of the debate, visit https://bit.ly/3CLP9Cm or view a recording at https://bit.ly/3VuypIc.