Wright State University is being sued by a former consultant who alleges the school did not host last year's first presidential debate because of infighting and staff incompetence. John McCance was hired to help Wright State land the debate. He was fired when the school cited security concerns and rising costs for backing out of the event. He alleges breach of contract and wrongful termination. Wright State has declined comment and is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed. The school is facing a loss of 1.7 million dollars after it decided not to host a presidential debate last year. Jim Letizia reports.
In July of last year, the Dayton-area school withdrew from hosting the debate, citing rising costs and security concerns. That debate was held at Hofstra University. Wright State spent 5.5 million dollars on Internet security, improvements at the debate site and other preparatory efforts. Funding for the debate was the subject of controversy and an ethics investigation. Five months earlier, state investigators announced they found no evidence of lobbying law violations by a Wright State consultant whose firm was paid nearly 1 million dollars in 2014 to secure state and federal funding to pay for the debate. Republican Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said the investigation focused on whether Ron Wine of Ron Wine Consulting Group should have registered as a lobbyist. State law requires individuals paid to advocate clients' interests before state officials to register as lobbyists if they spend more than 5 percent of their time lobbying the General Assembly or 25 percent of their time lobbying the executive branch. DeWine's statement said investigators found the portion of Wine's work was less than 1 percent. Wine and his firm have sued the school for 4.5 million dollars in unpaid compensation, citing breach of contract. Wine has also sued the school's research arm. Wine also alleges he was paid 2.2 million dollars in performance bonuses but the university stopped paying him after the state lobbying investigation. Wright State declined comment on the lawsuit.
