Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, one of the top Democrats running for governor of California, on Friday criticized USC and the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles for hosting a debate that he says deliberately excludes all candidates of color.
Becerra said he and the other candidates were unfairly excluded from the televised debate, a decision he said “smacks of voter fraud” in a hotly contested race less than three months before the June primary.
“My father used to tell me about the days when he would come across signs posted outside establishments that said 'No dogs, blacks or Mexicans allowed,'” Becerra wrote in a public letter to USC President Beong-Soo Kim. “USC's actions may not seem so transparent. But you have deliberately chosen to selectively filter voters' views of the gubernatorial candidate field in what all observers characterize as a very open race.”
The university said in a statement that it authorized a political expert to create the formula to determine who would be included in the debate.
“At the request of the Center for the Political Future, Dr. Christian Grose, professor of Political Science and International Relations, independently established the methodology that determined eligibility for the debate,” according to a statement from the center. “No one in the USC administration had any role in the development, review or approval of those criteria.”
The center later said in a statement Friday that it reiterated the criteria that determined which candidates were invited to participate in the debate and that nothing had changed since the forum was first planned.
The criteria for gubernatorial candidates to participate considered opinion polls and campaign fundraising. Six candidates were asked to participate in the March 24 debate, co-sponsored by ABC7 Los Angeles and Univision.
However, there was conflicting information about the criteria established by USC. The methodology says the fundraising totals considered were based on semi-annual campaign reports filed with the California Secretary of State's office. However, the document later says that the fundraising figures also include large donations that campaigns must report immediately.
This is a critical difference, because San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan did not enter the race until late January and so far has not been required to file any semiannual fundraising returns with the state. However, he has received significant donations since entering the race.
Mahan agreed with Becerra and said he should be part of public forums about who will run the state.
“The former secretary is absolutely right, he should be included in the debate,” Mahan said in a statement. “His long history of service to California has earned him a place at every debate stage in this gubernatorial campaign.”
USC officials said they are clarifying how they selected candidates to enter the race.
“We are reissuing the criteria to make clear that they include current fundraising totals, including semi-annual and late reporting, which were always part of the formula,” the Center for the Political Future said in a statement. “We are not changing the criteria. We have updated them even today and the ranking order includes the same top 6 candidates.”
Grose said the candidate selection was based on polls and fundraising figures, and that the line about semiannual fundraising reports was inaccurate.
“It was just a matter of wording. It's not a matter of methodology,” he said.
Six candidates are scheduled to appear in the debate: Republicans Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton; and Northern California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire hedge fund founder Tom Steyer and Mahan.
The uproar comes after Democratic candidates of color accused state party leaders of trying to push them out of the race in favor of white candidates, who have more support in opinion polls.
In addition to Becerra, other prominent Democratic candidates excluded from the debate include former state Controller Betty Yee, the state superintendent. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also condemned the candidate selection formula.
“Californians deserve a fair process and voters deserve to hear all qualified voices,” Villaraigosa, who taught public policy at USC for three years after leaving office, said in a statement. “But this biased and bigoted action by USC to manipulate data to exclude all qualified Black, Latino and API candidates in favor of a less qualified white candidate is shameful.”
Becerra said USC went to great lengths to justify candidates who were excluded, but the bias was clear.
“There is no escaping the abhorrent outcome: you disqualified all candidates of color from running while inviting a white candidate who NEVER did better than some of the candidates of color, including me,” he said.
Becerra was clearly referring to Mahan, who recently entered the race and received millions of dollars of support from Silicon Valley leaders. Becerra noted that veteran Republican strategist Mike Murphy, co-director of the USC Center for the Political Future, which is sponsoring the debate, is helping an independent expenditure committee backing Mahan.
Murphy said he had recused himself from anything related to the debate and was a volunteer with the outside group supporting Mahan. If he becomes a paid adviser to the independent expenditure committee, he said he has requested an unpaid leave of absence from the university until the June 2 primary.
“I've been transparent that I'm personally a Mahan supporter,” Murphy said. “I have had nothing to do with the debate.”
