Tom Perez: Our Debate Rules Are Fair and ‘Inclusive’

EXCERPT:

PEREZ: “Absolutely not. We have another debate coming up in a month and we will be figuring out shortly before that debate who qualifies for that. I worked very closely with Governor Bullock when I was Labor Secretary, same with Congressman Moulton, I have great respect for both of them. I don’t know the Mayor, I have not met him, but I appreciate anyone who's going into the race and we hope that they’ll continue and I know that they will. They have important visions to offer. At the same time, we set forth these rules, Hallie, many months ago. They are inclusive. 1% is not exactly — I think that’s a fair bar. And we also created a grassroots fund-raising threshold to get in, and 14 out of the 20 candidates who qualify did so. I think that’s great for the Democratic Party in terms of connecting with the grassroots. So, I think it’s great to have a large field. It forces difficult choices. And at the same time, I think managing ten people for our colleagues at NBC in the upcoming debates. That’s tough enough and we had to draw the line and we did so and I think it was the right place to draw the line."