Street Jazz

There is a certain humiliation in having to clear out of your office immediately, and be escorted out of the building by a police officer, in front of all of your colleagues. It has all the sensitivity of - oh, hell, it why bother to pretend there was any sensitivity or respect in the way that Cable Administrator Marvin Hilton’s termination by the city of Fayetteville today was carried out?

In the coming days and weeks there will be many theories about just why Hilton was terminated by the city. In truth, there has been friction between Hilton (who has been CA for over a decade) and the Coody administration for quite some time.

Hilton has never spoken publicly about his own frustrations with an administration that he has long felt wanted to curtail the number of citizen-initiated issue forums and roundtables on Fayetteville’s Government Channel. Just last week, a forum was held (with the rather unimaginative title, "Fayetteville's Unique Televised Issue Forums:  How they work , And who can use them"

Not a great title, but a really great discussion.

No doubt it will be relayed at some point soon either on FGC or on C.A.T. You don’t want to miss this one.

Of course, Hilton’s bosses have their own beefs - which he contests - with him.

As I say, Hilton has never spoken publicly about his frustrations or his feelings on the subject. But thanks to the termination this morning (which he refused to sign), he is now what is known as a Free Agent.

This means that Marvin Hilton can talk to anybody he pleases, be they reporters,  talk show hosts, bloggers, or the man on the street.

His expertise can utilized, should someone put together a roundtable or issue forum, whether they be on the FGC or on C.A.T. He could be called upon to answer questions before the Telecomm Board.

Hey, he could even apply to be on the Telecomm Board. Think Comrade Coody would veto him?

Lyndon Johnson once expressed the finest bit political wisdom I’ve ever heard for just this sort of situation:

It’s better to have someone inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent, pissing in.

rsdrake@nwark.com