‘Hip-Hop Diplomat’ Shut Out of Debate

George Martinez is frustrated. The so-called Hip-Hop Diplomat’s effort to keep his Occupy candidacy for New York’s Seventh Congressional District at the grassroots level is backfiring. NY1 is hosting a debate for which the participants are determined, not by poll numbers, but by campaign donations and spending and, as a result, Martinez’s rejection of corporate donors has left him without enough funds to qualify for the debate. In hopes of swaying the local news network to reconsider, the Martinez campaign issued a statement noting that while his candidacy is approved by the Federal Election Commission and the Board of Elections, “he was not required until recently to submit an FEC financial disclosure form because his campaign had succeeded in getting nearly 3,000 signatures and his place on the ballot without spending the minimum disclosure amount of $5,000.” So perhaps NY1 will have a change of heart and Martinez’s Zuccotti Park comrades will be able to watch him debate on one of their friend's TVs.