PAC-14 and Global Warming – Part II

It never ceases to amaze me.  People on the left seem to think that all they have to do is change the wording a little bit and the stupid masses (that’s you and me) will just fall in line like so many sheep.  This is exactly what Mike Goodson, Mike Pretl and the rest of the wannabe PAC-14 pirates are attempting right now.

In a conversation I had just last week with one of this merry little gang I was actually told that THEIR approach -

handing PAC-14 over to a largely self-appointed, self-perpetuating, and wholly unaccountable group

is the CONSERVATIVE approach to managing PAC-14.  I’m still laughing.

Their argument goes something like this:

Allowing the Wicomico County Council and the Mayor of Salisbury (with confirmation by the city council) to appoint the PAC-14 board is equivalent to government control.  Such government control will inevitably lead to CENSORSHIP and politicization of PAC-14’s content.  Only governance by a COMMUNITY board will assure that THE PEOPLE maintain control.

I’ll admit that the argument sounds great.  There is not one ounce of truth to it, but it sounds great.

THE ARGUMENT -

Before explaining exactly what this “COMMUNITY” wants, let’s look at their argument first -

The claim that GOVERNMENT will control PAC-14 and could result in CENSORSHIP is admittedly possible.  However, it is even more likely that a board wholly unaccountable to the citizens Wicomico County could censor the programming on PAC-14.

This group wants to control PAC-14, receive taxpayer funds and not have to answer to anyone.  Which board do you honestly believe is more likely to act in the best interests of the public – one appointed by elected officials who have to stand for election or one that is essentially self-appointed and accountable to no one?

As for censorship, this is hardly a concern at present.  Until PAC-14 reaches the point that it is showing real programming 24 / 7 (rather than the current bulk of time in text messages), it’s not a big concern.  However, at some point more decisions will have to be made as to programming, timing, frequency, etc.  Again, who do you trust more – a leadership accountable to the public or one accountable to no one but themselves?

All of this would be made possible by the so-called COMMUNITY Board.  Note that the word “COMMUNITY” will be used a great deal.  Unfortunately, the only community involved will be a small, elitist clique.  In true left wing fashion, these good folk know what’s best for us and don’t want to be bothered with little niceties like accountability to the public.  They want your money, but don’t try and tell them how to do their job.  In fact, don’t be surprised if they don’t allow you to even attend meetings.  Of course, you would have to find out when the meetings were to begin with.

WHAT THEY REALLY WANT -

Don’t take my word as to what they want.  Simply review the PAC-14 show done by Phil Tilghman and Mike Pretl.  They were quite open as to what they propose:

• a 15 member board with only ONE member appointed by the county and ONE member appointed by the city.

• 11 of the fifteen members to be self-perpetuating.  In other words, the vast majority of the board would simply re-nominate itself until a member chose to leave or was thrown out by other members.

• While the taxpayers of Salisbury and Wicomico County will provide the vast majority of the budget, there would not be ANY direct or indirect accountability to them.  In fact, they even claim that they would not subject to the Open Meetings Act or the Public Information Act (this is true).  Therefore, there would be no way to verify that tax monies were being wisely spent.

The Goodson / Pretl / SU crowd will argue that this is just how things are done.  Expect to hear names like the Community Foundation thrown around.  There’s just one problem.  Groups like the Community Foundation are not funded almost entirely by tax dollars.  In addition, the Community Foundation is not asking the taxpayers of Wicomico County to hand over a valuable asset – one PEG channel (up to three channels).

Tomorrow we’ll look at the politics behind this fiasco.

Sphere: Related Content