U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik wants to eliminate taxpayer funding for National Public Radio given that a former executive with an NPR regional network admitted that she “carelessly” used her station email account to advocate for Democrat candidates.
“They can campaign for the Democrats on their own dime, not on the taxpayers’ dime,” Stefanik declared, condemning the email blast and calling for the defunding of the entire national broadcasting entity.
Martha Foley was the news and public affairs director of NPR affiliate North Country Public Radio in upstate New York. She reportedly admitted that the messaging was inappropriate.
“I retired from the radio station – and journalism — in July 2019. My old email (this one) is maintained as a courtesy for retirees, to use it in this context was careless, and I see that the message has been taken down,” Foley told Breitbart News.
Stefanik, the New York Republican and third-ranking GOP official in the U.S. House, and whose campaign reportedly obtained one or more of the emails in question, indicated in no uncertain terms that NPR should no longer be subsidized with taxpayer money.
“It’s no surprise to hardworking North Country families that NCPR (North Country Public Radio) is illegally using their NPR email system to campaign for local Democrats and to smear Republicans in multiple mass email blasts,” Stefanik asserted.
“They need to apologize immediately, and the taxpayers of the North Country deserve an audit of NCPR’s activities, which are funded by hardworking taxpayers,” she added. “It’s never been clearer, once we take the majority in 2022, we must DEFUND NPR. They can campaign for the Democrats on their own dime, not on the taxpayers’ dime.”
North Country Public Radio is located on the campus of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. St. Lawrence County is part of Stefanik’s district. Foley’s emails were reportedly sent to St. Lawrence faculty members.
“Rep. Stefanik pointed out that, by law, organizations registered as 501(c)(3) nonprofits are barred from directly or indirectly campaigning for or against any candidate for elected office,” NNY360 noted.
North Country Public Radio “received $482,116 in total federal, state and county grant funding in 2020, including [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] funding,” the news outlet added.
Over the years, NPR has acquired several derisive nicknames because of its left-leaning content, including National Propaganda Radio.
Earlier this year, it implemented a major ethics policy change, which permits its allegedly objective journalists to participate in social justice activism online and in person.
Taxpayer-subsidized NPR changes ethics rules to allow journalists to participate as social activists https://t.co/jvWTdtGotJ pic.twitter.com/8jaBrjoJnH
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) July 31, 2021
In a lengthy statement, North Country Public Radio station manager Mitch Teich implied that Foley should have signed up for a Gmail account or the equivalent.
Martha is not an employee of North Country Public Radio. She, like some retired long-time employees of St. Lawrence University, has been allowed to maintain a legacy email address for some time following her retirement in 2019. (NCPR is a department within St. Lawrence University.) As a partially public-funded organization, we do not condone the use of the NCPR email domain for partisan political activity, and Martha has been told to cease the practice immediately. NCPR does not support or endorse any political candidates for office, and our ethics policy prohibits staff members from actively campaigning for political candidates.
Foley, who also appears to be listed as Martha Foley Smith, herself was a candidate for reelection on the Canton Town Council, but she reportedly lost to Republican Bob Santamoor on Tuesday.
Foley was reportedly regarded as a “founding mother” of the NCPR news department.
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Robert Jonathan is a staff writer for BizPac Review. He is a longtime writer/editor for news aggregation websites and has also developed content in the legal and financial publishing sectors as well as for online education. He earned a Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law, “a law school the basketball teams can be proud of.”
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