The Perfect Enemy | Alan Pergament: WKBW’s Hannah Buehler allows political analyst to give Republican commercial
March 28, 2024

Alan Pergament: WKBW’s Hannah Buehler allows political analyst to give Republican commercial

Alan Pergament: WKBW’s Hannah Buehler allows political analyst to give Republican commercial  Buffalo News

WKBW-TV (Channel 7) anchor-reporter Hannah Buehler has a fairness image problem.

Don’t take my word for it: Go on Twitter to read how many people think she leans right politically.

That image wasn’t helped during the station’s coverage of Tuesday’s primary when she allowed a conservative politician to give the Republican party spin going into the November governor’s election.

In fairness, I’m not sure if it was Buehler’s call to have Russ Gugino on without a Democrat for balance or if the decision was made above her. But she certainly allowed Gugino to give a four-minute commercial for Republicans.

Before asking Gugino questions, she identified him as a member of the Conservative Party. He may be best known as a former aide to the late Republican Rep. Jack Kemp.

Stations usually try to provide balance on election nights by having representatives of both parties analyze elections, but only WGRZ-TV (Channel 2) did that Tuesday.

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WGRZ had Democrat Talia Rodriguez and Republican Carl Calabrese on for very brief interviews with co-anchors Maryalice Demler and Scott Levin about the results. They each got to answer one softball.

That was preferable to watching Buehler fail to offer balance or push back to Gugino’s optimistic assessment of the Republican party.

Buehler’s first softball question about the governor’s race between Democrat incumbent Kathy Hochul and Republican Lee Zeldin after their primary wins set the tone: “New York is a heavy blue state. So how can Zeldin and the Republican Party kind of make a push for that seat and take control?”

She proceeded to ask Gugino if the three losing candidates would be encouraged to run on a different line, which led him to say the Republicans need to be unified behind Zeldin.

“He has a message for a lot of Democrats who are very fed up with the State Legislature from an economic point of view and a crime point of view,” said Gugino. “Crime is out of control not just in Western New York but throughout the state and right now there are no Democratic party solutions.”

Buehler then reminded Gugino that he told her before the interview about three things that Zeldin could focus on – crime, Covid-19 mandates and corruption.

That set up Gugino to take a shot at Hochul.

“She is a great campaigner but she’s going to have to explain the corruption that has been in the (Andrew) Cuomo-Hochul administration,” said Gugino. “If she can do that satisfactory, maybe she can be successful, but I think she’s going to have to answer some questions.”

Before the interview ended, Gugino was suggesting that the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and sending abortion rights to the states to decide may be to the Republican’s advantage.

“I think a lot of people don’t understand that even though there are many more Democrats than Republicans (in New York), a lot of those Democrats are conservative Democrats. There are a lot of pro-life Democrats in Erie County and throughout the state. And I think this recent ruling by the Supreme Court may be an advantage for Republicans rather than a disadvantage. I think it is going to wake up a lot of people in saying we need a change in Albany.”

Before signing off, Gugino had one more positive Republican spin.

“You’ve heard a lot about the Republican wave that is coming over the United States. I think it is going to take place in New York. There is going to be a surge of Republicans coming in the State Senate and the State Assembly and even in the Congress. I think Lee Zeldin can take advantage of that.”

Gugino certainly took advantage of the forum provided by Buehler.

Over at WIVB, co-anchors Jacquie Walker and Don Postles interviewed Jack O’Donnell, who was described as “a political strategist.” O’Donnell is a former staffer for Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and worked on President Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign and Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign in 2000.

So, it was no surprise that he had a more optimistic view of Hochul’s campaign.

But he didn’t give an advertisement for the Democratic party and overall gave a mostly balanced presentation. Of course, it could have been more balanced if a Republican strategist joined him.

When asked by Walker what Hochul did right to win her primary, O’Donnell said, “I think she’s done a good job.”

He added she had a lot of money in the budget to spread around, which is always a good thing for a politician.

Then he praised her for getting in front of “the big issues of gun violence and women’s reproductive rights that make Democrats happy and comfortable with her.”

He called Zeldin “an accomplished Congressman and big (Donald) Trump supporter,” which is “indicative of where the Republican party is” and added he has the support of the Conservative Party.

He suggested Republicans are going to try and make the race about a lot of national issues, including guns, inflation, foreign affairs and “the inability of Democrats to get anything done in Washington.”

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