CHATSWORTH : Candidates Protest Campaign Coverage

Two minor-party candidates and a campaign manager staged a brief protest Wednesday at The Times’ plant in Chatsworth against what they said was the newspaper’s limited campaign coverage.

“We are qualified candidates, and what we do is news,” said Glenn Bailey, the Green Party candidate in the 20th State Senate District race. “But we haven’t had coverage by The Times at any of our public appearances.”

Bailey was joined by Libertarian candidate John Vernon, who is also running in the 20th State Senate race. Vernon’s campaign manager also attended the protest.

The two candidates said they were especially upset that they were not mentioned Sunday in a story about the race that appeared in The Times.

Times Valley Edition Editor Charles Carter said the paper does not ignore minor-party candidates.

“Day to day, we cover them to the degree we judge they are newsworthy,” Carter said. “We have mentioned Mr. Vernon in 10 articles and Mr. Bailey in 14.”

Carter said the names of the two men were inadvertently omitted from Sunday’s story.

The two candidates are running in Tuesday’s special election against Republican Carol Rowen and Senate Pro Tem David A. Roberti, a Democrat. The district covers Van Nuys and other parts of the south-central San Fernando Valley.