Reform Party Candidate Breaks Through Two-Party Glass Ceiling:
Alexandrenko Secures Ballot Access for Party Next Election Cycle

Belinda Alexandrenko, Reform Party candidate for Louisiana Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry secured almost 6% of the vote in last week's statewide election and in some precincts polled in the double digits.  This was despite being a political outsider and running only a regional campaign on a shoestring budget.

Belinda graduated from Pineville High School in 1978.  She received a B.S. Degree in Business Management from Louisiana College. She completed a Masters program at LSU Graduate School at their College of Agriculture & Forestry in Human Resource Development, while studying Constitutional Law for a year as an elective.  In addition, Belinda has many hours of graduate work at the Tulane School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, with a specialization in International Health, Infectious Disease Control and Environmental Health.

"Belinda's success proves that a relatively unknown candidate with the right message can easily resonate with the voters, despite being ignored by major media.  Imagine what the result would have been if the media would begin recognizing that there really are viable alternatives to the Democrats and Republicans," said Reform Party National Committee Chairman David Collison.

Many states have significant barriers that limit the ability of non-Democrats and non-Republicans to get and maintain ballot access.   Historically, once Reform Party candidates break past the 5% mark in a statewide race, it indicates that there is a much larger voting block out there that is looking for an alternative to the two major parties. 

National Chairman Collison added that, "This is a significant achievement.  It tells us the voters are ready for a centrist alternative to the Republicans and Democrats and their three decades of recycled rhetoric."

The media should set aside their preconception of alternative candidates and provide the voting public with all their choices.  The Reform Party candidates represent "everybody in between" the Republicans and Democrats on the far right and left, and should be given the same access to interviews and articles as are given to the candidates representing the political extremes.