Posted on 05/06/2011 3:09:19 AM PDT by grundle
National Public Radio (NPR) is paying the lobbying firm Bracy, Tucker, Brown & Valanzano to defend its taxpayer funding stream in Congress, according to lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Secretary of the Senate. The taxpayer-funded radio network hired the firm in the second quarter of 2011 to work on issues regarding “funding for NPR and affiliate stations.”
It will remain unclear how much NPR is paying for these lobbying services until second quarter lobbying forms are filed. But before NPR hired the firm to represent it on funding issues, the network spent $131,666 in 2011’s first quarter on an in-house lobbyist.
NPR’s hiring of the lobbying firm comes in the wake of a public debate over whether the network should continue to receive taxpayer funds. Shortly after NPR was subjected to public humiliation due to the release of conservative Project Veritas’s sting videos, House Republicans voted to take away the network’s taxpayer funding in March. (The Senate, however, never passed a similar measure to defund NPR.)
In the Project Veritas videos, now-former NPR nonprofit foundation President Ron Schiller told people who he thought were representatives from a Muslim Brotherhood front group looking to donate $5 million to the network that NPR would be “better off” in the long term without taxpayer subsidies. He also attacked the Tea Party as racist and suggested that Jews control America’s newspapers.
NPR’s hiring of a lobbying firm to preserve its funding has riled some of the network’s critics.
“It’s astonishing that at [a] time we are looking to get a grip on out-of-control Washington spending, NPR is using hard earned tax dollars to pay for a lobbyist to extract more tax dollars,” Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer said in an email to The Daily Caller.
Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, who is among those leading the charge to defund NPR, told TheDC NPR’s new lobbying campaign won’t help them out in Congress.
“NPR’s misguided attempt to buy goodwill on the Hill will go nowhere,” Lamborn said in an e-mail to TheDC. “The simple truth is, our government is broke and the gravy train has run out of steam. NPR ought to focus its efforts on replacing federal revenues with private donations.”
Michael Bracy, who will be the lobbyist representing NPR, told TheDC his pitch on Capitol Hill isn’t going to focus on NPR’s news and opinion content, only its music. “I think it’s safe to say some policymakers aren’t always up to date on how the music industry is working in the marketplace,” Bracy said. “We’re just making sure that musicians, independent record labels and others who [provide music content to NPR] have their policymakers and delegation end up knowing how they work with NPR and public radio stations.”
Bracy refused to say how much NPR’s contract with his firm is worth. NPR did not return TheDC’s requests for comment.
It’s a curious thing that they are hired to PR mostly for NPR’s music. You see....over a twenty year period....about fifty percent of the music hours have been cut. Inserted in? News. In the mid-70’s as a kid....I can remember picking up a local NPR station and they played classical, jazz, and opera music for at least ten hours a day (from 6AM to 10PM). On weekend, you got poetry and great classical readings. For some odd reason....most all of that has disappeared.
More theft of taxpayer dollars.
Soros has been giving to them to stack the local reporters.
What happened their accountants lied to them and they can't make it without taxpayer money. Their is known we are broke.
And this is exactly the state of the situation in all government sectors and union debates. They use tax dollars to lobby for more tax dollars.
Let them stand on their own if they are so valuable. We need the military; we don’t need NPR and their shills getting rich on our dime.
“After going over your daily programming what exactly do you want us to point to as a reason to keep the money flowing”.............
Gotta fund the left.
Gotta fund the left.
Gottagottagottagotta..............
You know something, you’re right. I would not be against going back to that.
Has anyone else noticed the inane and expensive commercialsthe gov’t puts out each day usually running on shows like Rush, Beck and Hannity?
The ads are for adoption, being a good parent, some by the Ag Council etc.
WE’re probably talking millions upon millions of dollars spent each day on these rediculous ads.
Why? What purpose do they serve other than to pump up the gov’t dept that is running them.
Why does Rush and others allow them?
We need to vote for a conservative Senate and a new president next year to get these greedy Socialists away from the government trough. Herman Cain would fill the bill.
I heard a PSA the other day for food stamps, oh sorry SNAP now, in which the lady stated she had a job, car and owned a home. The announcer said she still may qualify.
If that is not a kick in the pants.
Ha!
Err America already tried that, it failed. They even took illegal loans from the Boys & Girls Club of America to stay afloat....to no avail.
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