NO SURPRISE TO SCPR!
When news broke yesterday that former Professional Football Hall of Fame (PROF, National Football Museum, Inc) enshrinees had issued a letter to:
- the [NFL]National Football League [a $14 million in revenues in 2017 enterprise] commissioner Roger Goodell, and
- the PFHOF president/CEO C. David Baker
- warning that they would boycott the PROF Centennial event slated for September, 2020 because of:
- "[M]istreatment of Hall of Famers, who are often exploited as ambassadors of the sport ... ."
- contrasted to Major League Baseball players who if they played only one day as a major leaguer get lifetime health insurance,
SEE THE ENTIRE LETTER IN THE APPENDIX TO THIS BLOG
LETTER ADDRESS TO NFL COMMISSIONER ROGER GOODELL, CI. DAVID BAKER & DEMAURICE SMITH
chief Repository PFHOF apologist Todd Porter (said to be a cousin of Rep publisher James Porter (a member of the PFHOF Board of Trustees) rushed out a defense of the NFL and the PFHOF, to wit:
ESPN obtained a copy of the letter, which questions Goodell’s annual salary, reported to be about $40 million, and the $1 billion Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village development in Canton.
Hall of Fame Village is a mixed-use development in Canton being mostly financed by investors.
The NFL does not have a financial stake in Hall of Fame Village.
The Hall of Fame has increased appearances for Hall of Famers and fees for those players since Baker’s [who on the 2016 PFHOF IRS 990 is listed with an annual income of $675,000] arrival in Canton.
The Hall of Fame, while working closely with the NFL, is not a part of the league
and
operates independent of the league’s annual revenue.
The NFL does not enshrine players or choose which players are elected to the Hall.
You talk about cherry picking "do not tell the full story" facts in his defense of the NFL and the PFHOF, Porter (sarcasm) excels!
The SCPR's response:
"Mostly financed by investors:" A glaring dismissal of the the Ohio/Stark County/Canton taxpayer substantial contribution (still in progress, see the discussion below of 48th Ohio House Rep. Kirk Schuring's (husband of Repository employee Darlene Schuring, where's the Rep disclaimer?) pursuit of HB 531 (the Market Square Project in downtown Canton) as this blog is written.
To boot, there is no accountability to the Ohio/Stark/Canton taxpaying publics on how the public's money is being spent or whether or not there is any certitude that there will be a return on the public's investment.
- "The NFL does not have a financial stake in Hall of Fame Village ...
- Hall of Fame ... not part of the league. operates independent of the league’s annual revenue.
- The NFL does not enshrine players or choose which players are elected to the Hall."
You have to be kidding Todd Porter! Look at the list of NFL connected persons on the PFHOF Board of Trustees.
Porter's point is only accurate in the legal, technical sense. In a de facto sense, the PFHOF is up to its eyeballs. Again, look at the entanglement of NFL connected persons on the PFHOF BOT.
The one possible redeeming point of Porter's argument?
The Hall of Fame has increased appearances for Hall of Famers and fees for those players since Baker’s arrival in Canton.
Okay Todd Porter (Mister Insider to the inner circle to C. David Baker and the rest of the PFHOF administration): Numbers please!
What sloppy journalism. Porter the writer and Porter the publisher ought to be embarrassed, no!
The SCPR thinks this Porter piece along with others including his "hokum" but not limited to his "hokum" piece on Hall of Fame Village LLC's Stu Lichter and C. David Baker clearly establishes that The Repository is nothing more - on all things PFHOF related - nothing more than a propaganda sheet in which the publisher is calling the shots of what is and is not published about HOF-VP matters.
Oh, yes! "not published:" to wit:
Back in mid-2017, (LINK) the Canton African-American community became aware that millions upon millions upon millions of dollars (some of it Canton (which has about a 25% black population)/Stark County/Ohio taxpayer dollars) were being awarded to contractors to build the 2014 announced (at that time estimated to cost about $500 million; now likely over $1 billion) expansion of the Professional Football Hall of Fame complex at 2121 George Halas Drive, within the city limits of Canton, into a Hall of Fame Village (HOF-VP) which was pitched as going to be a "Disney" like entertainment complex.
The pressure of a potential boycott story prompted the HOF Village LLC folks (60% owned by master developer Stu Lichter, 40% owned by National Football Museum, Inc (dba as the Professional Football Hall of Fame) to rethink the hiring of contractors so that later on in 2017 "the powers that be" funding/managing the project did in fact award minority contractor (Quality Care Construction, Neil Stevens) to construct a parking lot close by the Tom Benson Stadium.
Quality Care Construction VP Neil Stevens
However, by mid-June, 2018 (LINK) the minority contractor "walked off the job" because the minority owned business was not being timely paid by HOF Village LLC project manager Welty Construction.
Not a word on this major local story was apparently allowed to see the "light of day" on the part of James Porter (publisher of The Repository) when it happened, nor since.
Stark Countians have learned subsequently that only from The Stark County Political Report can they rely on getting the "full story" on the Professional Football Hall of Fame (PFHOF) Village Project as it evolves warts and all.
In 2016, The Rep reached an agreement with the PFHOF to be "the official newspaper of the Professional Football Hall of Fame," which raised concerns by the union representing reporters (see letter from the union to Repository management at this LINK) working at The Repository that the "official" relationship status reeked of conflict in interest concerns which might be perceived by the reading public that the reporters would not be allowed by the likes of James Porter to report thoroughly and completely on problems with the HOF-VP.
As if the June, 2018 snub of Quality Care's getting paid problems by The Rep was not enough and which seems to give reality to the conflict-in-interest concerns, on August 30th Stevens telephoned the SCPR with a request that The Report be on the scene with camera in hand to record a negotiating session between Quality Care, a HOF Village LLC representative and a Welty Construction rep on Friday, August 31st on the matter of as to when Quality Care was going to paid final amounts owed for the largely in not fully completed parking lot project.
The SCPR is pleased to know that the likes of Stevens know that the place to turn for thorough going journalism on PFHOF matters is not "the official newspaper of the Professional Football Hall of Fame with its numerous employees but with "the one person, no advertising" Stark County Political Report.
Turning now to Ohio House member Kirk Schuring (currently a Republican state Representative in the Ohio House [essentially North Canton and Jackson Township; the 48th District and running for the Ohio Senate; the 29th District against Democrat Lauren Friedman) and his web of connections to The Repository and the PFHOF in his current context of trying to steer House Bill 531 through the Ohio General Assembly before December 31, 2018 on which date if not signed into law will have to start all over again in the 2019-2020 Ohio General Assembly.
And a September 18th Capitol Letter excerpt:
Not long ago James Porter published a list of Stark County business, political and government leaders who he thought have demonstrated to be "all-in" on The Rep's, the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce (Saunier) and the PFHOF drive to make the HOF-VP a successful venture.
What Porter misses of course is that nearly all Stark Countians including this blogger wish the project all success as long as:
- the bulk of the financing comes from the private enterprise (i.e. "true" private enterprise is where "all the money" comes from the private sector),
- there is a full and transparent accounting for taxpayer money (including public officialdom employee hours) spent on the project, and
- HOF VP officials can provide a high degree of certitude that the taxpayer will be receive a fair return on taxpayer investment in the project.
So all of us deserve commendation for being "all-for" a "truly" private enterprise project.
In editorially dividing the "all-ins" from the "circumspect" Porter obviously is embarked on a "divide and conquer" strategy.
To the SCPR, James Porter on the HOF-VP matter is a highly irresponsible publisher in that his kind of thinking/strategizing (i.e. divide and conquer) seems to The Report to be the kind of thinking that has prevailed among all sectors of leadership in Stark going back to the 1950s and 1960s.
LETTER TO GOODELL, BAKER & SMITH
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