Rep. Jamie Herrara/Beutler (Wa. Teapublican)
Public Broadcasting Response MUST READ - how else are you to learn the truth??
Read this then scroll down to read her original response to me about defunding something as valuable and thrifty as PUBLIC BROADCASTING where she pulls figures out of her ass;
Begins with response from OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) to Rep
Herrera's outrageous reply to ME about cutting funding to public
broadcasting which is further down. These Tea Parties and Republicants
just PULL NUMBERS OUT OF THEIR ASS and people BELIEVE THEM.
March 30, 2011
Dear Joe,
Wow. Thanks for sending this in. We asked our President, Steve Bass, to try and explain things:
This seems to be their standard response and it's kind of a mash up of
various things. Here are some points that you might consider in
response:
* While it is true that NPR receives little direct federal funding, CPB
provides support to local public radio (and television stations) to
support operations. This is particularly important to stations like OPB
that serve significant rural areas.
* HR 1076, which is the bill that Rep Herrera Beutler voted in favor of,
saves the taxpayer not a single dime. It does not cut any funding to
CPB at all. Rather, it restricts OPB and other public radio stations
from using any CPB or other federal funds to acquire programming from
NPR and virtually every other source. This would put in place burdensome
restrictions that appear to be strictly punitive in nature rather than
sound public policy.
* HR 1076 would have a significant negative impact on OPB's operations.
It would threaten OPB's ability to maintain our Northwest News Network,
which we cooperatively with other stations, to provide coverage in
Olympia among other areas.
* This bill would also eliminate funding for OPB's new environmental
journalism center, which was funded by CPB and which will create news
bureaus at six stations across the Northwest to cover environmental
technology, renewable energy, natural resources, and sustainability.
* The public overwhelmingly supports federal funding of public
broadcasting. According to a recent survey, 69% of voters believe that
federal support of public broadcasting should be continued.
* Residents of Rep Herrera Beutler's district are significant users and
supporters of OPB and other public broadcasting stations. In fact, OPB's
Portland radio station has the largest audience share of any public
radio station in the nation and there are more than 10,000 OPB
contributors in SW Washington.
Thanks again for sharing this with us Joe and especially thank you for
being a public broadcasting supporter. We will get through this because
of folks like you.
Best,
Kate
OPB
_______________________________________________________
March 25, 2011
Dear Mr. Xxxxx,
Thank you for contacting me regarding federal funding for public
broadcasting and National Public Radio (NPR). It is an honor to
represent the people of Southwest Washington and I appreciate you taking
the time to share your thoughts with me.
Public broadcasting is a valuable education resource in our community.
In addition to providing civic-minded news and educational programs,
they also offer programs that help children prepare for success in
school -- programs that inspire learning and are geared toward improving
the quality of life in our community. However it is time to
discontinue the practice of taxpayer dollars being used for public
broadcasting.
When providing federal funding, it is important to consider the
financial structure and health of these organizations. For instance,
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has well known, brand-name public
programs like Sesame Street that make millions on their own. Sesame
Street for example, made over $211 million from toy and consumer product
sales from 2003-2006. In addition, this taxpayer-subsidized
broadcasting also raises strong support from private donors and interest
groups.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a parent company of NPR.
According to NPR's website, "NPR does not receive any direct federal
funding, but it does receive a small number of competitive grants from
CPB and federal agencies like the Department of Education and the
Department of Commerce. This funding amounts to approximately 2% of
NPR's overall revenues. The largest share of NPR's revenue comes from
program fees and station dues paid by member stations that broadcast NPR
programs." In other words, NPR does not rely heavily on federal
funding.
Additionally, these organizations offer their executives the following
excessive salaries as reported in the Wall Street Journal article
titled, "Public Broadcasting Should Go Private: If these outfits can
afford to pay lavish salaries to their heads, they don't need taxpayer
help."
o Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary Knell received $956,513 in compensation in 2008.
o According to CPB's 2009 tax forms, President and CEO Patricia de
Stacy Harrison received $298,884 in reportable compensation and another
$70,630 in other compensation from the organization and related
organizations that year.
o PBS paid President Paula Kerger $632,233 in annual compensation in
2009 – as reported on the 990 tax forms all non-profits are required to
file.
o NPR gave Kevin Klose, president emeritus of NPR, $1.2 million in compensation.
If these organizations can afford to give such generous salaries to
their executives, surely they can operate without tax dollars.
CPB and NPR are aggressively lobbying to prevent Congress from saving
hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars each year by cutting their
subsidies. As Congress considers ways to close this year's $1.6
trillion budget deficit, cutting funding for CPB has even been proposed
by President Obama's bipartisan deficit reduction commission. It is
important to dig down and find every opportunity to cut spending,
because taxpaying citizens, many of whom are unemployed or
underemployed, will be financially responsible for a culture of
government overspending.
THEY JUST PLAIN LIE. NOT MIS-SPEAK, NO MIS-INFORMED , THIS IS LYING IN IT'S PLAINEST FORM!
