NEW: McKee Agrees to Appear on WPRO Debate
Thursday, August 07, 2014
Cumberland Mayor and Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor Dan McKee has announced he will take part in a scheduled debate on WPRO -- and has urged his Democratic opponents to participate.
McKee says he intends to appear on air on August 21 at 5 PM on WPRO, which is currently subject to the "For Our Daughters" boycott over John DePetro.
"Today, the McKee campaign was contacted by station management at WPRO to acknowledge candidate McKee's prior acceptance of an invitation to debate," said campaign spokesperson Mike Trainor, who said the campaign accepted three weeks ago. "The debate will still be held on Thursday, August 21 at 5 PM on WPRO."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTTrainor noted moderators will be Kim Kalunian and Bill Haberman.
"We want to urge our opponents to reconsider their decision not to participate in this debate. Mayor McKee feels that voters should have every opportunity possible to make an informed choice in the voting booth," said Trainor.
McKee said that while he agreed with the station boycott, at the time he accepted the invitation, For our Daughters head Maureen Martin said a debate didn't violate the boycott.
"I called Maureen to confirm the quote I saw in GoLocal, and she told me there was going to be a strong advisory sent out against participating in debates," said McKee, referencing the July 23 GoLocal article -- and message sent by Martin on July 25. "I let her know at that time I accepted the invitation, and confirmed it wasn't violation."
Opponents Fire Back
McKee's opponents in the Democratic primary -- Secretary of State Ralph Mollis and former State Representative Frank Ferri -- said they viewed a debate appearance as a violation of the boycott.
"We will be honoring our commitment to the WPRO boycott, and therefore cannot participate. We look forward to debating with the candidates in other forums," said Mollis campaign manager Nick Cicchitelli.
Ferri released the following statement in response.
"My family taught me that your word only matters if you keep it. To my knowledge, every campaign received the same request from Ms. Martin with the For Our Daughters organization asking us to refrain from appearances on WPRO as long as John DePetro remains on their air. I made that commitment, and I intend to honor it. It is simply unacceptable to label women as "whores." No matter what our political differences may be, we cannot allow the public airways to turn into a place where individuals are dehumanized and degraded. I look forward to meeting my opponents at other debates in the future, including the one being hosted by the League of Women Voters later this month."
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