Group sues as TV fund is cut

The Hillsborough commission faces claims of censorship.

By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 2, 2007

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TAMPA - The last time Hillsborough County commissioners tried to stop paying for a public access cable channel, the station forced them to back down by using their own words against them.

Some commissioners had publicly objected to occasionally lurid programming, enabling lawyers for the station to claim censorship of free speech.

A new lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, claims that a recent vote by commissioners to again cut funding is a return to censoring ways. But this time, station lawyers are using the commission's silence against it.

The suit says commissioners simply wised up and have sought to conceal censorship by not saying anything during budget meetings to explain the cut.

"The commissioners who voted no said absolutely nothing," said David M. Snyder, lawyer for Speak Up Tampa Bay, the nonprofit group that runs the station.

The lawsuit asks a judge to block the county from cutting the station's funding, a decision that went into effect Monday with the end of Speak Up's two-year contract.

Hillsborough County Attorney Renee Lee said the commissioners simply made a budgetary decision. Revenue reductions imposed by the state forced the board to look for areas to cut. Commissioners chose public access TV, as is their right, she said.

U.S. District Judge James S. Moody is assigned to the case, which has two counts.

The first claims the county is violating First Amendment free speech guarantees, cutting funding as retribution for broadcasting shows that put commissioners in an unfavorable light. It cites examples, such as local activist Marilyn Smith calling board members corrupt and likening commission Chairman Jim Norman to Boss Hogg.

The second count claims that the county is essentially discriminating against the public and producers of its access channel.

Bill Varian can be reached at varian@sptimes.com or 813-226-3387.