FTVLive

View Original

Sinclair's Chairman Financed Two Charter Amendments

Voters in Baltimore will get the chance to vote on two charter amendments in the Fall election.

City election officials are reviewing petition signatures for two potential questions for voters: Do they want to establish recall elections for city politicians who fail to live up to standards? And would they impose a limit of two terms on the city’s mayor, City Council and comptroller?

Here’s the interesting part. The Baltimore Sun reports that the drive to get the questions on the ballot was undertaken by a group called the People for Elected Accountability & Civic Engagement. The organization was created in February and funded almost entirely by David Smith, executive chairman of Sinclair.

Sinclair owns WBFF in Baltimore the station has Fox frequently reported on the idea of recalling Democratic Mayor Brandon Scott, who started his four-year term in December 2020. Baltimore’s charter has no mechanism for the public to recall officeholders and does not limit the number of terms elected leaders can serve.

It seems that Smith is trying to get some laws in there that can change that.

In December WBFF ran a report titled “Should the Baltimore City charter allow for the recall of elected officials?” It outlined the steps needed to amend the charter to permit recall elections. Around the same time, the station conducted an unscientific survey that asked people whether they would like to see Scott recalled. Another report — “As frustration rises about Baltimore crime, questions raised about a mayoral recall” — ran two days later. In it, a reporter said the survey showed 200 people, or 95% of those who took part, supported recalling Scott, according to the Sun.

An outsider might think that Smith is using his own TV station to report what he wants viewers to see and hear.

That doesn’t seem ethical, now does it?

A spokesman for Smith said the Sinclair chairman would not answer questions about the effort “out of respect for the ongoing current review process taking place at the board of elections.”

But he seems to have no problem with WBFF carrying his message to viewers.

See this content in the original post