DENVER – A debate Wednesday night geared toward alternative gubernatorial candidates served to spotlight a need to open mainstream debates to all ballot-qualified candidates.

Free & Equal hosted the Open Colorado Gubernatorial Debate, attended by unaffiliated candidate Mike Dunafon; Harry Hempy, with the Green Party; and Matthew Hess, a Libertarian.

Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat seeking re-election, and Republican challenger Bob Beauprez, were invited but did not attend the debate.

The event was attended by about 120 people at the Infinity Park International Ballroom in Glendale, where Dunafon serves as mayor.

A star-studded cast of alternative-thinking speakers graced the stage, including Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2012.

“Colorado has had some 10 or 12 closed debates, and this is the first open debate,” Stein said. “If it’s not an open debate, it’s really not a debate at all.”

One of the debate’s moderators, Professor Griff, of legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy, compared the opening debates to the culture of hip-hop.

“Young people need to hear truth that speaks to power in an unfiltered kind of way, and I think coming from the vibration of hip-hop, I think that’s what this does,” Professor Griff said.

The night included a video message from former U.S. Rep. Congressman Dennis Kucinich, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004 and 2008.

The event was aired live over the Internet and broadcast by C-SPAN.

The candidates appeared elated to have speaking time before an audience. They have been clamoring to join the mainstream debates, but have not been invited. There have so far been four debates between Hickenlooper and Beauprez.

“I realized the Democratic Party was unalterably co-opted by money and corporate interests, just like the Republican Party,” Hempy said. “Two parties are not enough.”

On the issues, the candidates all agreed that marijuana should be legal, something that Dunafon especially has made a highlight of his campaign.

The candidates even suggested that government should not criminally penalize people for the use of other, harder drugs.

Dunafon poked fun at a Hickenlooper administration anti-marijuana educational campaign for adolescents that features human-size lab rat cages. In a viral campaign video featuring hip-hop star Wyclef Jean, Dunafon slammed the “lab rat” campaign as a “trap.”

“The drug laws in this country are the equivalent of the new Jim Crow,” Dunafon said at the Wednesday debate, pointing to the disproportionate number of people of color behind bars.

A group of Jefferson County students also took the stage to ask the candidates a question, specifically on the recent turmoil with the school board there concerning a proposal to review history curriculum for a slant toward patriotism. The board ultimately compromised on the controversial proposal.

The candidates mostly applauded the students for multiple days of protests related to the proposal, and the moderators called them “heroes.”

“What can you do?” Hess asked. “It is a simple word: engage. Not just when there’s a problem, but when there is, go there and speak your heart.”

On unlimited campaign contributions, the candidates agreed that corporate and union money has opened the floodgates and crippled the democratic process.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome,” Dunafon said. “DNR: Do not resuscitate the parties.”

pmarcus@durangoherald.com