It's not often that the world of politics crosses over into the world of my personal life. But last week, it did. Indiana Equality organized a protest at the State House this past Monday, and one of the featured speakers was my friend, Dorothy Vanore. I've known the Vanore family for years, and for many of the years, Dorothy was just my friend's younger sister. But she's become much more than that. You can see a video she made about her day leading up to her speech here. It's my understanding that she was part of the delegation from Indiana Youth Group, an organization that caters to the needs of LGBT youth.
Former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi's weekend radio show on 93.1 WIBC-FM apparently lit up with phone calls this week concerning the indictment of Brizzi's drinking buddy, Tim Durham. Both Diana Vice and Gary Welsh have accounts of this. According to their accounts, Brizzi went off on a caller asking about his lavish stock portfolio and the multiple real-estate deals he's a part off. Vice points out that slander is held to a much lower standard when it comes to private individuals, and brings up that Brizzi might've put Emmis Communications (the company that owns WIBC) in legal jeopardy. Maybe Brizzi should go to a political image consultant, and maybe the struggling WIBC should let Brizzi go.
Speaking of WIBC, has anyone noticed the quality of advertisers have dropped quite a bit? It's understandable that Rush Limbaugh and Coast to Coast AM bring their own unique sponsors to the station, but I'm hearing crazy radio ads even beyond those time slots, particularly the Income At Home "program"/scam and the End of America 38/44 ads. Are the internal struggles at Emmis Communications between their shareholders making it harder to sell adspace? They still haven't hit the low grade quality of advertisers that 1430 WXNT-AM (mostly government departments and programs advertising their services with few exceptions) attracts, but they're catching up pretty quick.
Legally, I believe anything that's put on the radio is considered to be published. Therefore, it's not slander; it's libel!
ReplyDeleteIf the tables were turned, it would be difficult for Brizzi to win because he is a public figure, but it's a whole other bag of potatoes here. Interested to see how this one comes out.
Funny Matt, I listened to the same radio program you did. I know Carl appeciates the listeners.
ReplyDeleteI heard the exchange. And I don't see how you could consider it "going off", slander or libel.
I don't see why you all won't just leave Brizi alone. He's not an elected official any longer. Yet people still want to dig into his private life, his divorce and his financial records.
I called in after that nutcase was done. And I will say it here too. Give it a rest and get a life. I know there are other battles worth fighting here.
What do you all hope to accomplish by beating up Carl Brizzi?
His divorce, Brian, was a matter of public record and the subject of several news articles. If I recall correctly, his ex-wife took him to court for not paying for physical education expenses. His financial dealings are also a matter of public record. When he invested in a 10% ownership of Harry and Izzy's, he got a letter exempting him from the law that prohibits law enforcement officials from owning a business that operates with an alcohol license. His real estate holdings were the subject of scrutiny in several articles in the Indianapolis Business Journal and Fox 59's Russ McQuaid. If reading the newspaper is dirt digging, then count me guilty as charged.
ReplyDeleteWhile Brizzi may no longer be an elected official, he is still very much a public person, a radio show host, and a political commentator, all of which have been frequent topics of this blog.
I also didn't listen to the show myself. I was out of WIBC's range at the time. I tried grabbing the podcast of it, but it looks like Crime Beat's section hasn't been updated since October, 2010.