Jim Schneller, the Independent candidate in the 7th Congressional District race, was not invited to the "Meet the Candidates" forum hosted by the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce on Monday night.

Read about the forum here.

Schneller said he asked the chamber to be invited. Schneller has not been invited to a few other debates between major-party candidates, Republican Pat Meehan and Democrat Bryan Lentz.

"First it's a radio station, then it's a community center, then it's a TV station and now a chamber of commerce is on board with the big parties' efforts to make the election their domain," Schneller told the Daily Times on Tuesday.

Mike Brady, president of the chamber, said Schneller was not invited to participate in the forum, but he was welcome to attend as a member of the audience. He said the planning for the event took place long before Schneller received enough signatures to get on the ballot in August.

Brady said the chamber's board decided early on to devote the event to the major-party candidates due to time constraints.

Some of the major-party candidates in the local races, however, did not attend the forum.

"The forum was from 6-8 p.m. If we opened it up to Independent candidates, it could still be going on right now," said Brady on Tuesday afternoon. "(Schneller) was never invited from the get go."

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In other news, Schneller has filed an appeal over the Commonwealth Court's decision with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

"The Commonwealth Court has decided against our strong case as if the particular reasons we enumerated didn't exist, and this is especially distressing because Pennsylvania law requires careful decisions in this sort of case, because ballot integrity, and faith of the public in the election process are sensitive areas of law," Schneller said in a release.