VILLARAIGOSA CAMPAIGN CALLS OUT “BIASED AND BIGOTED” USC CRITERIA IN UPCOMING DEBATE

VILLARAIGOSA CAMPAIGN CALLS OUT “BIASED AND BIGOTED” USC CRITERIA IN UPCOMING DEBATE

USC Professor Grose Manipulated Data to Leapfrog Less Qualified White Candidate, Excluding All Candidates of Color from ABC Debate

LOS ANGELES, CA — The criteria developed by a University of Southern California Professor to determine participation in the upcoming USC/ABC gubernatorial debate raises serious questions and doubts about fairness and bias in the gubernatorial election. Instead of using raw polling and fundraising numbers cited in his own “Debate Criteria and Formula,” USC Center for the Political Future Professor Christian Grose overtly manipulated the data to allow a less qualified White candidate to participate in the debate, while excluding all qualified candidates of color.

Professor Grose used two data sets: 1) results from a recent PPIC poll, and 2) fundraising totals through February 18th. In both instances, Antonio Villaraigosa ranked higher than Matt Mahan. Specifically, Villaraigosa scored 40% higher than Mahan in the PPIC poll, and raised 43% more in fundraising than Mahan – beating Mahan in both metrics cited by Professor Grosse. However, Professor Grose manipulated the data in order to push the lesser candidate, Matt Mahan, ahead of Antonio Villaraigosa.

STATEMENT FROM ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA

"Californians deserve a fair process, and voters deserve to hear from all qualified voices. But this biased and bigoted action by USC to manipulate the data to exclude every qualified Black, Latino, and API candidate in favor of a less qualified white candidate is shameful.”

-Antonio Villaraigosa

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