On Saturday, October 17, 2020, Jesse Jensen and Kim Schrier participated in a candidate forum for Congressional District 8, which was co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Kittitas, Tacoma-Pierce and Seattle-King Counties.
In the ground rules for that forum, which the candidates agreed to, TVW and the League of Women Voters would record the forum and no other recordings would be allowed. Further, the recording by TVW and the LWV would only be shared in its entirety and used only with permission of the League.
After the forum, when links to the full video were sent to the candidates, they were again reminded about not using portions of the video for campaign purposes.
Mr. Jensen used segments of the forum on his campaign social media. He was asked to remove these postings, and his campaign appears to have complied. However, other political organizations have reposted them, continuing to breach the original ground rule.
We ask that any organization or individual who has in any way used a segment of any video recording of any LWV candidate forum, except in its entirety, without LWVWA permission remove them.
We ask that both candidates clarify with other organizations or supporters that they wish to adhere to the rules and not use video segments in campaign materials.
The LWV is a nonpartisan organization that does not support or oppose any candidates or political parties. The League works hard to be fair to all candidates and apply ground rules equally.
We are proud of our record of impartiality. When any candidate or political organization disregards the conditions of the forum, this impartiality is inappropriately misrepresented and may mistakenly give the appearance of bias.
To ensure fairness, we request that anyone using any forum recording comply with the ground rules we set forth for the forum.