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THIN-SKINNED REPUBLICAN BIGWIGS ORDER STOP TO POPULAR TV PROGRAM

ANALYSIS By Mike Hudson

Tom Christy, who has hosted his popular cable access show "Legislative Journal" for a decade here, has been yanked from the airwaves by the petty bureaucrats running Lockport Community Television, because of increasing criticism of the county legislature and Industrial Development Agency by call-in viewers of the program and Christy himself.

That's the consensus among those who have watched with interest the increasing pressure Christy's been under since late last year, when Niagara County Manager Greg Lewis publicly announced he would no longer appear on the show, where he had formerly been a regular guest.

In a fit of childish pique, Lewis whined that Christy and the "Legislative Journal" callers had been mean to him, daring to question the $40 million payment in lieu of taxes deal the county gifted AES Corp. with for its Somerset power-generating operation, Lewis' own unholy alliance with the predatory Buffalo Niagara Partnership and even the fact that the total tax burden on the residents of Niagara County was found to be the highest in the entire nation.

Not only has Lewis' crybaby routine helped get Christy's show canceled, LCTV officials have even given him his own show, although someone probably ought to tell him that the tight, garish sweaters he insists on wearing in the studio are less than flattering to a man of his impressive girth.

The Republican majority in the legislature was also a frequent target of Christy's callers, who had grown palpably sick of appearances by members on other shows that didn't permit call-in commentary and where they were gently prodded by somnolent hosts to talk about what a great job they were doing.

Not that Christy himself was a hard questioner. Former Niagara Falls mayor Vince Anello appeared each month on "Legislative Journal," boasting about his many accomplishments and not being asked about his harassment arrest, his daughter's bodacious City Hall beer blast or the FBI corruption investigation he was -- and is -- the center of.

Powerful Republicans such as state Sen. George Maziarz, county GOP Chairman Henry Wojtaszek and IDA Chairman Henry "Mickey" Sloma had all expressed their distaste for both Christy and "Legislative Journal." Things finally came to a head when Christy met with LCTV officials, including John Benoit, a well-known Republican hack and chairman of the Lockport Cable Commission.

"I was told only elected officials would be allowed on the air, I could not voice an opinion, I could not talk with callers, but simply take their question and hang up, and other rules which can only be termed absurd," Christy said in a sworn statement filed with the Internal Revenue Service. In December the IRS received a complaint from a Lockport resident claiming a number of irregularities at the non-profit LCTV, including politicization of the station.

In other words, Christy was told that he could continue doing a public relations show for county Republicans rather than the sometimes freewheeling and often riveting program he had invented and had been doing for a decade.

,i>(Full disclosure: This writer has appeared on Christy's show exactly one time, and didn't find it a particularly pleasant experience. Niagara Falls Reporter Publisher Bruce Battaglia has been on two or three times.)Predictably, and perhaps in order to cover their behinds from the IRS and other investigations that are sure to result from their foolish actions, Benoit denied that the decision to cancel the show was politically motivated.

"To address concerns that have been raised, the policies have been clarified, but nothing really has changed," Benoit told the Buffalo News in the runup to the cancellation.

His words were as empty as his own pointy little head, however, as a December letter from LCTV Executive Director Tom Riley to Carol McTague, a senior consultant in the state Public Service Commission's Office of Telecommunications, shows.

Painting Christy in as bad a light as possible, Riley wrote:

"During the past several months, Mr. Christy has begun interjecting his personal opinions, which have often been critical, about government activities, particularly those of the Niagara County Legislature and the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency. This has resulted in complaints from viewers, and several officials, including the county manager, will no longer agree to appear on the program."

Christy denied that there had been any change in his program over "the past several months."

"I did the same thing I'd been doing for the past 10 years," he told the Reporter. "There was absolutely no difference, and anyone who's watched the show could tell you the same thing."

Scott Leffler, who hosts a popular morning talk show on Lockport radio WLVL, agrees.

"We've got government trying to control the media," he said. "They didn't like what was being said on Tom's show and they canceled the show. It's as simple as that. It's an outrage."

One of the few Democrats in the legislature, Dennis Virtuoso, said he will introduce legislation this week seeking to have "Legislative Journal" reinstated.

"This isn't about Tom Christy, it's about free speech and it's about one of the few avenues the taxpayers of Niagara County have to present their views to elected officials here," Virtuoso said. "This shouldn't be about Republicans or Democrats, everyone ought to want to see the Constitution upheld."

The opinion handed down by McTague was hardly an endorsement of censorship. While she said that, technically, LCTV can do whatever it wants, she emphasized that the state in no way endorsed the radical approach the alleged nonprofit was taking.

Niagara Falls Reporter Publisher Bruce Battaglia said that, while he didn't always agree with the opinions expressed on "Legislative Journal," the efforts of the county GOP to muzzle Christy were just plain stupid.

"What, they're doing this because Henry Sloma can't take a little criticism?" Battaglia asked. "They all need to grow up. If you can't take a little criticism, you've got no business being in the public eye."

But Benoit sees things differently. To him, LCTV should be nothing more than an official mouthpiece for a county government he adores.

"That is intended to provide the public with information about what the government does," he told reporters. "'Legislative Journal' basically, was an opportunity for elected officials, or representatives of elected officials, to provide information about what they do, how they function."

Or dysfunction, as the case may be.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com March 18 2008