"Vindictive bureaucrat": WLRN chair blasts school district officials over lawsuit
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The day after Miami-Dade County Public Schools sued WLRN's management company, the chair of the radio station's board unloaded on district leaders.
- Emails show the chair, Richard Rampell, called a district official a "petty, small-minded, vindictive bureaucrat" and a school board member "a two-faced shamelessly ambitious politician."
Why it matters: The exchanges, revealed in court documents last week, show how contentious the relationship between the station and the district, which holds its broadcasting license, has become.
- And it further escalates the months-long conflict over South Florida Public Media Group's effort to acquire a radio station in West Palm Beach.
Catch up quick: Last week, Miami-Dade Public Schools sued the parent company of South Florida's NPR station over its effort to acquire a radio station in West Palm Beach, claiming the company violated its contract.
- The district alleges the media group would be using funds from an endowment for WLRN that is meant to exclusively support the Miami community.
- SFPMG disputed those claims.
The latest: In an email to district chief of staff Jose Bueno, Rampell claimed the lawsuit was "a despicable act that you clearly helped instigate" and that Bueno and the board's actions were a "cowardly assault on the free press."
- The email continues to say that WLRN "will not be dissuaded" and that "Mark Twain was right" by saying, "At first God created idiots; that was for practice. Then he created school boards."
In a separate email sent the same day to school board member Danny Espino, who also sits on WLRN's board of directors, Rampell accused him of "double-cross[ing]" the station.
- Rampell wrote that Espino had "assured us in our meeting that you supported our efforts to expand our reach into Palm Beach County."
- He said he would "urge the [WLRN] board to publicly kick [Espino] off" if he didn't resign.
The other side: Espino rejected Rampell's assertions, calling his email "unprofessional" and an "attempt to impugn" his integrity, emails show.
- In his response, Espino said SFPMG informed him of its hopes to expand beyond the district's license, to which he added, "I believe I wished you luck."
- "For you to imply that my comments somehow blessed your business endeavor," with limited information, he said, "is a nonsensical proposition."
Friction point: "Espino's response is purely self-serving," Rampell told Axios Wednesday. "For him to accuse me of [being unprofessional] is a cheap smear. I don't need a lecture from him on how to behave or correspond."
- Rampell argued WLRN gave Espino "full disclosure" of the acquisition plans.
Espino did not respond to Axios' questions regarding the email exchange, and district officials declined to comment on pending litigation.
- The district's attorneys filed copies of the emails in circuit court on Friday.