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Dick Armey Goes Ballistic Over Broadcasters
Former Majority Leader Dick Armey came out swinging on Wednesday, offering the National Association of Broadcasters a good old-fashioned Texas butt-kicking over their opposition to a bill that he believes would put AM and FM radio on a level playing field with other music distribution platforms that pay royalties to artists and copyright holders.
At a briefing organized by the MusicFirst coalition, Armey (now employed by DLA Piper) said twin bills offered in the House and Senate would eradicate broadcast radio's longstanding exemption from paying performance royalties. He called the NAB's resistance to the bill "a sad testimony to their lack of professionalism and commitment to the arts and creativity."
First he called upon the Bible ("The holy script says a worker is worthy of his hire and should be paid"); then the nation's Founding Fathers ("The Constitution said people who are creators whether it be inventors or artists should have their rights to their work protected"); then on Howard Roark, the protagonist in "The Fountainhead" and then on William Shakespeare; to make his point.
My spirited colleague Brooks Boliek from The Hollywood Reporter asked Armey how he was a credible source given a story published that day that pointed out what MusicFirst did not -- that he's a lobbyist for the Recording Industry Association of America. Armey snapped: "I just think you're kind of annoying me. If you came in here to grind an ax, grind it somewhere else, because I frankly don’t care what somebody in Hollywood says about my credibility." He later apologized for "flying off the handle."
Posted by Andrew on May 14, 2008 08:43 PM | Permalink
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