Dan Lamb (L) and Richard Hanna (R)
SYRACUSE -- The race for the 22nd Congressional District has taken an unusual and disturbing twist over an accusation that Republican incumbent Richard Hanna improperly used his influence to convince local television stations to drop a debate.
Hanna's democratic opponent Dan Lamb has made public an email from WUTR General Manager Stephen Merren in which he explains why the Utica station decided not to run a debate which was scheduled to be taped October 5th at the studios of WSYR-TV / Newschannel 9 in Syracuse.
The two ABC affiliates had planned to hold a debate between Lamb and Hanna, but when Hanna declined to participate, the stations decided to run a half-hour interview with Lamb alone.
In the October 3rd email to Lamb's campaign coordinator Mike Morosi, WSYR’s General Manager Theresa Underwood, News Director Rob Cartwright and anchor Dan Cummings, Merren states he, "got an angry call from Richard Hanna."
Merren said Hanna told him, "we were being played by Lamb and the results would not be favorable for his continued ability to deal with our news organization." CNY Central has obtained the email. Click here to read it.
The email refers to other debates which Hanna has participated in, but goes on saying, "He (Hanna) indicated to me that we would not be considered for his ad dollars and our level of cooperation in the future could be affected."
Merren wrote that he consulted with Tim Busch, the Co-Chief Operating Officer at Nexstar Broadcasting, which owns the Utica based television station.
The email stated: "We are going to have to back out of this taping on Friday and deal with our relationship with Congressman Hanna on our own... However I do not want to offer Dan Lamb a forum to bash Hanna and call him out for an ‘empty chair.’"
Morosi told CNY Central's Jim Kenyon that WSYR has decided to cancel the taping with Lamb as well. That decision comes less than a week after WSYR news director Rob Cartwright emailed the Lamb campaign to inform them WSYR had decided to continue with the broadcast, despite Hanna’s decision not to participate.
Lamb's campaign has issued a news release accusing Hanna of coercing the news station with advertising dollars. "Congressman Richard Hanna should be ashamed of himself for using his money to influence the journalistic decisions of a local news station," Lamb is quoted as saying
It adds, "if this isn't a violation of FCC rules, it should be. What Hanna did is the moral equivalent of bribing a cop. If the news media can be bought off, our entire democracy is at risk."
Reached by phone, Stephen Merren said he would have no comment. "I've been asked by my company to let this run its course." Merren did disclose that this was an "unfortunate situation, the email was not intended" to get to the Lamb campaign.
"I did not cave in. He (Hanna) did not pressure me...The story is not true," says Merren.
WSYR’s Underwood, Cartwright and Cummings have not returned our call for comment. We have also contacted Nexstar’s Busch and Congressman Hanna’s campaign for a response.
In another twist in this story, Nexstar Broadcasting is currently in the process of purchasing WSYR.
Hanna and Lamb have had one face-to-face forum and four more are scheduled, including a televised debate at WKTV in Utica.
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