Public Interest: The Final Chapter?

A friend passed along a transcript of live blog posting done by New Jersey Star Ledger reporter Paul Mulshine at the state senate hearing to discuss (or, really, decide) the fate of New Jersey Network. The full transcript is available at the newspaper's web-site, but I wanted to share a few choice excerpts  to indicate that, for all the posturing, the decision to end NJN had basically nothing to do with the best interests (financial or otherwise) of the general public.

Going:

Sitting here in a rare evening session of the state Senate. They're debating that measure to hand over the state's television station to a bunch of New Yorkers.

Did I say "hand over?"

Correct that. We're actually paying WNET $4.7 million to take our TV stations.

This is nutty, and I can't see why a single Republican would vote for it.

But apparently all of the Senate Republicans will.

Going:

Montclair State University put in a better bid, he says. Plus it would have helped Montclair to attract good students.

Another good point.

Earlier Loretta Weinberg, the sponsor of the bill, pointed out that WNET is forced to carry New Jersey news already because it's license is in Newark.

So why, she asked, did we need to create another channel to host the same news?

Now Shirley Turner says, "Now we're telling our residents: Live in New Jersey. Work in New Jersey. Get your news from New York."

She was referring to prior programs to keep people in the state.

Sen. Ray Lesniak is up saying the state is turning its back on Montclair State University.

"It has a dynamic leader. It would be a fertile ground for journalism majors from around the world. We should be demanding excellence from our universities, not mediocrity," he says.

Gone:

 

Now a Republican is speaking up. It's Joe Kyrillos, who is pretty much the Governor's most loyal soldier. And he is showing his loyalty.

He's calling for the station to be handed over to the New Yorkers.

"We got a deal that will save the New Jersey taxpayers millions of dollar," he says.

No, it won't. The Montclair deal was $2 million cheaper for the state.

But it looks like the fix is in and we're hading our station over to the New Yorkers.

Today's Lesson:

 

I hope the GOP voters who are eager for New Jersey governor Chris Christie to get into the 2012 presidential race take note of this. He could have made a deal that saved the state's tax-payers money and otherwise served the public interest. Instead he chose to sign over a state resource to what is (relatively speaking) a foreign entity. If this sort of partisan-driven hypocrisy  is the best the GOP has to offer, then its slide to irrelevance is long overdue.