Ethics Probe into WYCC “Political Videos”
Chi-Town Daily News carries this story of a probe being opened into WYCC (the taxpayer-funded PBS station at the City Colleges of Chicago) over the production of blatantly political video content for the station:
Under orders from then-Chancellor Wayne Watson, the PBS television station at City Colleges of Chicago used its budget to produce free videos of powerful politicians and friends of the chancellor, an internal college e-mail shows.
The political programs, dating between 2002 and 2006, spawned a state ethics investigation and figure into a new federal lawsuit that alleges the publicly funded WYCC television station violated the terms of its government grant funding and broke federal tax rules for charities.
When the station’s former manager complained about the political projects, she was fired, according to the lawsuit.
The political programs showcased golf events, a fundraiser and a “State Senate California Trip” in connection with then-State Senate President Emil Jones. Then-Ald. Todd Stroger and civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, among others, also were featured in programs.
Kudos to the state Office of the Inspector General for opening an investigation into this matter — and we look forward to seeing the results, especially since the TV station gets considerable funding from already-strapped federal and state taxpayers:
Last year, WYCC got $865,000 in federal grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $116,000 from the Illinois Arts Council, according to budget documents.
Comments
One Comment on Ethics Probe into WYCC “Political Videos”
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R. Johnson on
Mon, 10th Aug 2009 5:34 pm
That’s great that the Office of Inspector General is going after this. Hopefully they remember WYCC from when Maria Moore, then the General Manager, went to the Illinois State Office of Executive Inspector General in 2006 and spoke with Investigator Shawn Woods about the very same ethics complaints that are being listed in this blog post. Of course then she was harassed by the Chancellor Wayne Watson, stabbed in the back by the City College’s Board of Trustees (Daley appointed) and ultimately lost her job for blowing the whistle on corruption and patronage on the city’s dime.
Now that the case was picked up by the media I guess people on the state level are supposed to start caring? Where was everyone for the last three years? Or since 2003 when the corruption started? People at the state level knew about this and did nothing. So before you start getting high and mighty about WYCC being tax-payer funded, think about all the institutions that are in place to PREVENT this sort of thing that looked the other way. Our taxes are going to them too. At least WYCC actually can produce SOMETHING.
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