Mayoral candidate and pro wrestler Jerry Lawler will not let a local TV station exclude him from an upcoming mayoral debate without a fight.
Lawler is threatening legal action against WREG-TV Channel 3 unless the station allows him to participate in a televised debate Saturday, which is also sponsored by The Commercial Appeal. He's claiming his exclusion from the debate - which is open to only four top candidates -- "could result in permanent, irreparable damage to his mayoral campaign."
"The outrage has been overwhelming," Lawler said in a statement. "Our campaign headquarters has been flooded with phone calls and emails. People are upset, they feel like they are being ignored - their voice is being ignored by the media and by the status quo career politicians."
The debate will feature Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery, former City Councilwoman Carol Chumney and attorney Charles Carpenter - a decision made based on the results of last week's Mason-Dixon poll of 400 likely voters.
The poll, also sponsored by The CA, showed Wharton winning 45 percent of support from those "likely voters" surveyed. Chumney won 11 percent, followed by Lowery with 10 percent, Carpenter with 5 percent and 21 percent "undecided."
Lawler won support from 2 percent of those surveyed.
Prior to the poll, Channel 3 sent a letter to all 25 mayoral candidates letting them know that the two upcoming televised debates would be open to either the top four candidates in the poll or any candidate netting greater than 15 percent of support.
Lawler is claiming the poll is not demographically or geographically representative of the registered voter population and should not be the basis for the debate.
"It's just a complete slap in the face of the citizens of Memphis," Lawler said. "This is a very important election, and now just one poll that was conducted over a three-day period of just 400 people is going to determine who should have the opportunity to speak to the community? It's just a shame to see the people of our great city treated this way, having their vote disenfranchised. Every voting block has a voice and deserves to be heard."
I don't know what Lawler was doing while I was taking statistics courses in college or what he was doing while I was in law school; but I have researched the issue and would not worry about being sued over this issue.
The man is making himself look ignorant and irascible. Perhaps there's not much difference between boxer Herenton and wrestler Lawler. Wait, wrestlers gripe about the officiating way more.
SHAME on WREG-TV Channel 3 and The Commercial Appeal. What they are doing should be considered UNdemocratic. Jerry Lawler has every right afforded to him under federal communication laws to be apart of the debate. If he is not included Memphis citizens should contact the FCC in regards to revoking WREG-TV's broadcasting license. ryan
No surprise here. Lawler is the only one that clean up City Hall and clean up this city from all the corruption and greed. And naturally, everyone that has an interest in keeping things the way they are...are doing just that. I agree...SHAME ON WREG.
Jerry was my business partner for several years,although he was a great wrestler I nor my family would vote for Jerry Lawler.Sadly he should stick to wrestling and leave the rest alone to people that can actually fix the city!I personally endorse A C Wharton for Mayor.Jerry is a good guy but has plenty of personal problems from the past that IMO would exclude him from running!
Jerry W.Jarrett
For those who think 400 is too few people to sample, read this:
http://www.robertniles.com/stats/sample.shtml
That includes you Mr. Lawler.
There is an offensive comment posted above that is supposed to be from me. This comment states exactly the opposite position that I feel about Jerry Lawler's bid to become mayor of Memphis. Jerry always has and still does sing the praises of Memphis. I have known him for most of his adult life and his deep feelings for the city are known by everyone that ever worked with him. Jerry and I have had our fair share of disagreements, but I have never questioned his intelligence, work ethic, or love for his home town of Memphis. I expect a retraction immediately. This form requires my email address. I expect you newspaper to tell me who is using my name.
Jerry W. Jarrett
This is the real Jerry W. Jarrett. None of the above nasty rascals pretending to be me are really me and that's who I am voting for, None of the Above.
Jerry W. Jarrett
While I understand not all twenty something candidates could effectively take part in a debate, Lawler is a serious candidate and as such I believe channel 3 would do a service to the community by letting the citizens hear him engage the other candidates. If the front runners are confident in their positions they should welcome a chance to demonstrate why they are front runners. As a lifelong memphian I can say the demographics of our city make it hard to conduct an accurate poll with so few participants. Opinions will swing radically depending on what neighborhood you survey.
By the way, I do not believe Jerry Jarrett lives in Memphis, all of the above diatribe can be disregarded regardless of who really did post it.
Lawler has a point and Alex's post here puts up the numbers to prove it. The poll's margin of error (That you'll have to look up in the original report.) was 5%. So Carpenter with 5% and Lawler with 2% means they are tied. The differences are too close and the margin of error too wide for a "cut off" figure to be used with any degree of accuracy.
It's a frequent problem with the statistically challenged to assume the numbers in a poll are precise. They aren't. They are a guess, which is why we have elections and not polls. The wider the margin of error, the larger the guess. Had the margin of error for the poll been something small, like 1%, then you could speak of Carpenter being "ahead" of Lawler with some confidence. (BTW, a larger sample size would have reduced the margin of error. But the poll would have cost a lot more, too. Cheapskates get what they pay for.)
The CA and WREG got caught. Their polling didn't discover a few clear leaders and a bunch of also-rans they could safely ignore. Sucks to be them today.
The other problem is that WREG is a Federally licensed broadcaster and not a private actor. Their broadcast license makes requirements of them in political matters, including fairness and impartiality. By tying participation to their poll, they hoped to sidestep seeming unfair. It didn't work because so many of the candidates polled so poorly and so close together. It's also why the Cordova Leadership Council and other mayoral forum sponsors can invite participants, leaving some out, and not get sued over it. They are private groups.
WREG would have been better off to the let CA sponsor the forum by themselves and they agree only to broadcast it. But no, they gambled and came up craps.
We all know that WREG and the commercial appeal have contributed to Herenton's campaign in the past and to AC's campaign. Their guy is supposed to win this. They've already picked him out. They don't want anyone they think will disrupt the system to have a chance. The system is broken and needs fresh faces. No one is perfect in their life, but it's about your heart. Do you have the best intentions of Memphis, love this city, or are you just trying to get another job because your time is up in the county? People should really consider who they can trust the most. This is not about who can win. Anyone can win. It's about who do you know for a fact wants to see a better Memphis. Who wants a change? AC wanted a car paid by taxpayers at the debate and he worked on Herenton's campaign. This is for sure not what we need for Memphis again. AC is nice and all but he is the same Herenton behind the smile. He has never stood up for corruption. Be smart Memphis. Please for the love of our city think before you get suckered into the whole nice guy routine career politician. This man had no concern when we talked to him about the crime problem last year. He just wants to consolidate and have control over more like all power hungry individuals. Stop the madness. Our city needs something new. Jerry Lawler should be included in the debates, otherwise wreg has no credibility and will loose a lot of viewers to channel 5 who has the balls to let the top contenders speak.