President and CEO of McCance Consulting Group, John McCance, is seeking $1 million in punitive damages from Wright State. The lawsuit also includes $150,000 regarding six other allegations, including wrongful termination, breach of contract, hostile work environment and infliction of emotional distress.
McCance was involved in the planning of the presidential debate, which would have taken place on Sept. 26, 2016.
According to McCance, the Commission on Presidential Debate (CPD), notified WSU it was pulling the debate from the university, but offered WSU the chance to say it was withdrawing from hosting.
"This is absolutely the last resort for me, it's not something I want to do," McCance said in an interview with the Dayton Business Journal. "My career started at Wright State. When I was in Washington and I envisioned bringing the debate to the Dayton region, Wright State was the only place in my mind to bring it to."
According to a WSU spokesperson, "Consistent with its long established practice, Wright State University does not comment on pending litigation," in response to the lawsuit.
WSU's legal representation has filed a motion to dismiss and alleges "lack of subject matter jurisdiction," according to the Dayton Business Journal.
McCance states in the lawsuit he began preparing the application for the debate in 2014, and WSU landed the debate in 2015. McCance was to work with Robert Sweeney, the Executive Vice President for Planning, to plan the debate. The lawsuit states disagreements arose regarding a security fencing contract and communication between the school and commission.
McCance was named "advisor to the president for presidential debate," in 2015, and was to be paid $108,000 in the one-year project, according to an employment contract included in the lawsuit. McCance was terminated July 21, shortly after the school pulled out of the debate.
"Between July 5 and July 18, 2016, McCance had numerous telephone communications with various members of the CPD," states the lawsuit. "It became apparent to McCance that the CPD had lost all confidence in WSU to be able to host a presidential debate. On Monday July 18, 2016, WSU was contacted by CPD that CPD was in fact pulling the debate from WSU. In a move to allow WSU to save face, the CPD suggested WSU to withdraw before the CPD made the announcement."
In the interview with Dayton Business Journal, McCance said the $11 million cost for the debate was "fabricated." He said the cost was wrongly blamed on him, and has led to a struggle in finding local work.
The lawsuit alleges the breach of a one-year contract, because the withdrawal from the debate ended the contract five months early.
"McCance (alleges) that it was the incompetence of certain WSU staff, as well as the epic gross buffoonery and carnival type atmosphere on the main campus with all the infighting and lack of support and finger pointing that led the CPD to eventually decide not to allow WSU to host a presidential debate," states the suit.
"I can speak with a thousand percent certainty that if the new president of the university is interested in applying for a debate, that Wright State University will be favorably looked upon and have equal consideration as any other school applying," McCance said.
