Scott James is the owner and morning show host on Talk 92.1 WDDQ in Valdosta, Georgia. He also happens to be the Mayor. The NAACP and other community groups have filed an ethics complaint against James. They claim comments he makes on his show violate the city’s ethics ordinance.
The station is a Conservative talker throughout the day, carrying Glenn Beck, Ben Shapiro, Lars Larson and Dana Loesch. James, who hosts mornings, was elected in 2019, winning the race by 96 votes in a runoff
Local news outlets are reporting that the complaint says Matheson is failing to give “the appearance of being independent, impartial, and responsible to the people,” as required by the ethics code, and is instead “partisan, biased, divisive, and not concerned about all constituents he is charged with serving.”
According to Tulsa World, the groups coming after James are saying by what he’s saying on his morning show he’s violating the city’s ethics standards. They are claiming that James has implied that Democratic canvassers in Georgia’s January U.S. Senate runoffs were being improperly paid, that COVID-19 spikes in Arizona and California were to blame on “letting in tens of thousands of unchecked migrants in from disease-ridden nations,” and that federal judges improperly ignored voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
The groups say they have no confidence James is capable of serving everyone in the community and they want him removed from office.
The Mayor is, at the end of the day, a municipal employee. He’s not the king. As a town employee he has to abide by his employer’s policies – in this case the codified ethics rules. I’m sure everyone chiming in here, especially the station owners – would be absolutely *thrilled* if an employee told them they didn’t care what the rules were, they can get lost, I’ll do whatever I want.
And let’s get real about this “buy your own station” nonsense.
Out of 328 million Americans, the only people arrogant enough to seriously suggest that as a solution would be a handful who are already license holders. Grow up.
Hysterical, much?
Only your opinions have validity?
“Tolerate up,” Robby Timmy.
Not sure he’s thumbing his nose at the rules of his office by exercising free speech in his primary place of employment. If he were a mortuary employee, sanitation engineer, or construction worker those dissatisfied wouldn’t be able to demand he change for them.
He won an extremely close election. The voters for the losing team are trying to use their dissatisfaction to demand he be removed more because he’s good at what he does than anything else. It’s probably why they voted against him in the first place.
Accepting the outcome of the election would be growing up, my friend.
The most outstanding feature of the TV, radio, or computer is the OFF switch. The members of the jungle harassing the mayor can simply tune out and go pound sand. Hopefully the judge dismisses the lawsuit with prejudice. There IS a first amendment and that speech is protected whether the jungle likes it or not!
Cancel Culture alive and well. This also points out why “Equal Time” is such a bad idea. Own a station, pay all of its bills, and when you espouse a viewpoint the opposition gets free rebuttal time.
I agree with the posters above. If you don’t like what someone is broadcasting buy your own station and put your opinion on the air. Oh, wait, we taxpayers currently do that with the public radio and TV stations. Never mind…
Well, he’s probably not wrong…….
The people complaining could always buy a radio station, hire themselves as morning host and run for public office. Instead, they voice their opinion that others shouldn’t have one.
Status quo.
Exactly, that is ALL this is about – shutting up someone they don’t agree with. There have been countless partisan elected officials. Most of them, in fact. Since they RUN AS PARTISANs by claiming a party and what that party stands for.
I don’t know if Mayor is different, but there is no guarantee that someone who is elected will represent you the way you want to be represented. FORTUNATELY there is a remedy for that… you can vote for a different candidate next time.
I can understand why people would TRY this tack. I don’t understand why a judge or anyone else would let them succeed. Common sense should demand that this is thrown out at the lowest level possible.
I weep for our Country.
Yeah. Everybody should buy a radio station & successfully run for office. Solid, practical position. Way to advance the conversation & par for the “conservative” talk cabal. SMDH.
PS to “John Galt”: Have the guts to post under your real name, or keep it to yourself.