TNSoS records reveal new $1.53 million call center start-up HQ'ed at residence of TRA Director

Statement of Disclosure of Interests (ss-8005) - Tennessee Regulatory Authority Director Kenneth C. Hill
https://www.tennesseeanytime.org/conflict-app/view_form_8005.htm?name=HILL&id=16786&f=20207&v=5

Date of Filing

2009-08-13

Filer Contact Information



http://ms.tngop.org/new/sec.asp">Kenneth Hill (Kenneth C. Hill)
Tennessee Regulatory Authority, James Robertson Parkway
Nashville, Tennessee 37243

Office Held or Sought

Incumbent
Office Holder
Director - Tennessee Regulatory Authority



Sullivan county


Sources of Income

Appalachian Ed Com Corp with recipients Filer Spouse (http://www.whcbradio.org">Appalachian Educational Communication Corporation, d.b.a. WHCB 91.5 FM and the Cameo Theatre; http://www2.guidestar.org/ReportNonProfit.aspx?ein=52-1221965&Mode=GxLite&lid=420942&dl=True">AECC IRS Form 990s.)

Information Communications Corp. with recipients Filer

Southwest Radio Church with recipients Filer

Investments

Healthy Living, LLC; Community National Bank of the Lakeway Area held by Filer (this item is unclear; is this actually two separate investments?)

Right Way Marketing, LLC held by Spouse (Mrs. Hill earns approximately $15k per year through Appalachian Educational Communications Corporation, d.b.a. WHCB 91.5 FM and the Cameo Theatre)

IRA-Information Communications Corp held by Filer Spouse

Lobbying
None

Professional Services
Other, Rule 31 Mediator-Family & Civil Mediation furnished by Filer

Retainer Fees
None

Bankruptcy
None

Loans
None

Certification

I certify.
You certify that all of the information you have entered is true, correct, and complete in accordance with the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Act to the best of your knowledge.

I, the undersigned, do hereby witness that the above information was entered in my presence.

Witness Name Quyen R. Quillin

Special Guests
http://www.specialguests.com/newguest.php

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So, if you’re sick and tired of dishing out your hard-earned cash to a big PR firm for little return, try Special Guests performance-based publicity services.

And what follows is an excerpt from the Special Guests web page for TRA Director Kenneth C. Hill

RED FLAGS: Is Fairness Doctrine Latest in Stalin-esque Far Left Agenda?



First there was the Obama “Truth Squad” of lawyer and law enforcement Democrats in Missouri. Then there was a “release the hounds” character attack on Joe “the Plumber.” Now, the latest disturbing indicator of a repressive tendency by the new Democrats to silence dissenting opinion is a movement to reinstate the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine">Fairness Doctrine.

How can a law originally designed to ensure political balance in broadcasting be such a powerful weapon of control for one party? Communications expert and author, Dr. Kenneth Hill, is available for interviews to offer a very educated and intriguing perspective on the issue.

“Reinstating the Fairness Doctrine is not about preserving the liberals’ right to present their opinions on the airwaves,” says Hill. “They have that right. No one is denying them that. No, the Fairness Doctrine is about shutting down the much more popular conservative programming that obviously resonates more with the American public. That’s why so many recognize this law for what it is—the Censorship Doctrine.”

One of the forerunners behind this political power play is John Podesta, President-elect Obama’s White House transition team co-chairman. Podesta has been a major role player in the startup of the Far Left “media monitoring” website, Media Matters. But by its own self-description, the website has a controversial agenda that leaves the motive behind the Fairness Doctrine questionable at best.

Established in May 2004, Media Matters was created to “systematically monitor a cross-section of print, broadcast, cable, radio and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation.” But in addition to “news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable or credible,” the organization’s concept of “misinformation” includes anything that “forwards the conservative agenda.” Thus political differences of opinion are often portrayed by Media Matters as lies or worse.

As a guest on your show, Hill will expose the real threat that he believes the Fairness Doctrine poses against the First Amendment, and can go into impressive detail regarding the important issues he establishes in his book Assault on Liberty: Rebirth of the Fairness Doctrine. Such issues include:

• How the Fairness Doctrine affects free speech.
  
• How liberals in Congress want to revive the Doctrine to limit broadcasters from keeping listeners fully informed.
  
• How 40% of Americans would have their news and information censored under the Doctrine.
  
• How the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is involved.
  
• What your listeners can do to prevent the abuses of power facilitated by the Fairness Doctrine.
  
  ABOUT YOUR SPEAKER...
  
  Dr. Kenneth C. Hill
  
  Dr. Hill has been active in communications and broadcasting all his adult life, having been involved in virtually every aspect of television and radio for more than three decades. His broadcast communications career has included teaching at the college level in areas of mass communication, broadcast journalism and numerous other subjects in the field.
  
  Dr. Hill’s educational achievements include a Bachelor of Science degree in speech (broadcasting) and history at East Tennessee State University, a Master of Science degree in speech (broadcasting) at Indiana State University, and a number of degrees in theology, including a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unaccredited_institutions_of_higher_learning">Doctor of Religious Education degree from Andersonville Baptist Seminary.
  
  For the past 26 years, Dr. Hill has been affiliated with the Appalachian Educational Communication Corporation (AECC) in Bristol, Tennessee, and is currently CEO and serves as http://www.radiodailynews.com/1-26-johnsoncity-kingspot.htm">general manager of five radio stations, broadcasting to five states in the eastern U.S.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1880786,00.html">TIME article excerpt regarding the history of the Fairness Doctrine:

The act is rooted in the media world of 1949, when lawmakers became concerned that by virtue of their near-stranglehold on nationwide TV broadcasting, the three main television networks — NBC, ABC and CBS — could misuse their broadcast licenses to set a biased public agenda. The Fairness Doctrine, which mandated that broadcast networks devote time to contrasting views on issues of public importance, was meant to level the playing field. Congress backed the policy in 1954, and by the 1970s the FCC called the doctrine the "single most important requirement of operation in the public interest — the sine qua non for grant of a renewal of license." (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis.)

The Supreme Court proved willing to uphold the doctrine, eking out space for it alongside the First Amendment. In 1969's Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, journalist Fred Cook sued a Pennsylvania Christian Crusade radio program after a radio host attacked him on air. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court upheld Cook's right to an on-air response under the Fairness Doctrine, arguing that nothing in the First Amendment gives a broadcast license holder the exclusive right to the airwaves they operate on.

...

BEFORE THE TENNESSEE REGULATORY AUTHORITY NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE ...
Kenneth C. Hill of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (the "Authority"), the voting panel assigned to this docket, at a Hearing held on September 21, 2009, (signed order to allow Cincinnatti Bell to compete in Tennessee for business customers only)...hey wait a minute - TRA Director Kenneth Hill has a telemarketing call center headquartered in his Blountville residence!

http://www.state.tn.us/tra/orders/2009/0900113e.pdf

Investments (from state disclosre form filed by Tennessee Regulatory Authority Kenneth C. Hill):

Right Way Marketing, LLC held by Spouse (although Mrs. Hill earns approximately $15k per year through Appalachian Educational Communications Corporation, d.b.a. WHCB 91.5 FM and the Cameo Theatre)...

Do you suppose that the Hill's Right Way Marketing might benefit from the Cincinnatti Bell order signed by TRA Director Kenneth C. Hill?