Democratic chair squares with SC ETV

S.C. Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison told The Buzz that he had a “thoughtful and constructive conversation” Friday with the president of South Carolina’s public broadcasting network over its decision not to televise debates between S.C. candidates this fall.

S.C. Democrats, including Harrison, last week railed against the decision. But they had little to show for their efforts Friday.

Democrats gathered nearly 700 signatures asking the network to reconsider its decision, made not long after ETV received a request to air a 2nd District debate between U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, and his Democratic challenger, Columbia librarian Arik Bjorn.

In fairness, no date, time or place has been set for that debate, making it hard for any media to agree to cover it.

However, Democrats took exception when an ETV official said the no-debate decision might have been different if South Carolina had a series of “highly competitive” general election races.

Efforts to reach ETV for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

But Harrison said Friday he thinks ETV will brainstorm ways to cover federal issues and candidates before the Nov. 8 election – whether by debates or otherwise.

“I think they’ll be thoughtful, and, hopefully, we’ll come up with something that works to educate voters on what are the pertinent issues going on in Washington, D.C., because those things have an impact.”

This story was originally published September 10, 2016 at 8:57 PM with the headline "Democratic chair squares with SC ETV."