KTSC hires spin team, board chair quits

OK, so let me get this straight. The Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation has hired Moxley Carmichael, a PR firm. In other words, tax payer money is now paying a company whose business is public relations to hire a public relations business????

This makes as much sense as the News Sentinel, which puts out an advertisement every day, paying a PR firm. Oh wait, crap, we already do that.

Anyhoo, Cynthia Moxley sent the media a note, letting us know that KTSC board chairman David Duncan resigned (more on that in a moment). She said: Your next question will be, "Where are the documents?"

No, actually (and I emailed this to her), my next question was: How much are they paying you?

Seriously.

OK, with that said, here's some excerpts from the KTSC spin release:

David Duncan has resigned as chair of the board of KTSC. “I have been very concerned over the past few weeks about how we can be responsive to the concerns that have been raised and to restore the reputation of KTSC as an organization and confidence in its leadership,” Duncan said in a letter of resignation. “I believe that KTSC would be better served by different leadership of the board.”

Susan Brown, the vice chair of the board, is now the interim chair, in accordance with the organization’s by-laws.

“The KTSC has received dozens of requests for information and documents regarding this issue over the past few weeks and we have been trying to respond to those requests with sensitivity to both the legalities and certain privacy issues,” Brown said. “Upon the advice of legal counsel, we have determined that all the documents are, in fact, public records. Rather than release the documents in a piecemeal fashion, we have decided it is more efficient to release them all at one time to anyone who has asked for them.”

The board also plans to meet Friday to discuss “this and related matters.