BILLIE SCRUSE IMPLODES: THE HPATV PRODUCERS MEETING MELTDOWN

Sorry for the delay on this, but its been another busy week.

Every three months a "Producer's Meeting" is held at Hartford Public Access Television and it is required for producers wishing to have a program in the upcoming season to attend. The "spring" season meeting was held Monday night. A couple dozen producers, including myself, attended.

The agenda presented by Billie Scruse (pronounced screws) was short and she breezed through it in less than 20 minutes. The meeting was relatively civil up to the point she opened up for questions. Apparently she is not used to being held up to scrutiny, because that is where the meeting turned bad.

The threat of questioning her heavy handed tactics loomed large and I couldn't resist the chance to ask a few questions.

The handling of the "Sasha Show" has been a matter of concern for everyone and Scruse's refusal to answer any questions has also been a problem. I've been a firm believer that if you deal in good faith and truthfully, then you shouldn't have any problem explaining your actions.

I asked a generic question about signing out equipment from HPATV and the repercussions for returning equipment late. Scruse answered that anyone returning equipment late could possibly have their right to sign out equipment suspended. I asked if she meant their show suspended and she said no, their right to use HPATV equipment. I then asked how someone would know if this was a problem, and she stated a violator would receive a written warning first.

I then asked a question about the policy of producers attending the mandatory meeting in order to have a program. I think at this point the little bulb went off in her head and she realized where I was going. I tried to clarify if the meeting was actually mandatory since I knew of a few producers from the last season who did not attend the producers meeting, yet still had programs.

She started to get agitated and finally stated that it was her call if mandatory meant mandatory, and if she wanted to let someone have a program she could. She then quickly went to someone else in the room, I guess figuring that would be easier.

Wrong choice, the next questions were just as tough.

Scruse then declared the meeting was over and no one wanted to be bothered with such issues. She then seemed to cave into the pressure and made some sort of declaration that Sasha Hunter wasn't an employee and she (Scruse) wasn't bound by any privacy issues. She claimed to lay all of her facts on the table and offered up a copy of an e-mail she sent to Sasha and a copy of an e-mail that HPATV's lawyer ( yes, lawyer) wrote to Sasha.

It seemed odd that the e-mails Scruse offered up were a direct contradiction to the policies she had quoted earlier.

In her e-mail to Sasha, Scruse pointed to one reason for suspending the Sasha Show was that Sasha failed to attend the "mandatory" December 14, 2010 ( Scruse said 2010, I think she meant 2009, unless she's clairvoyant). This would apparently be the mandatory meeting that Scruse had just stated wasn't mandatory but more discretionary on her part.

Then the second reason for her suspension was that she had returned a camera tripod 18 days late. This apparently is also a contradiction to her earlier statements that returning equipment late would only result in suspension of a producers right to borrow equipment, not a suspension.

I also asked if Scruse was willing to share the copies of the written warnings issued to Hunter as per her policies. I stated that if the written warnings were shared with us, I would be prone to believe that the suspension was legitimate and not personality related as suggested.

That seemed to be the final straw and she grabbed all of her propaganda and files and quickly headed for the door. On her way out she stated that if we had a problem, "take it up with the Board". I would imagine that she meant the Board of Directors of Hartford Public Access Television, the same "Board" that has called the Police on myself and others in the past for attempting to attend Board meetings.

Scruse left the room and offered up one of her staff people as a sacrificial lamb. Unfortunately he was unable to answer any questions or commit to any solutions.

The meeting ended with more dissatisfaction with Scruse and her abilities by her actions. She probably could have gained much more credibility by spending the extra 15 minutes addressing the problem than she did storming out like a tyrant.

It seems odd behavior for an organization whose middle name is "PUBLIC".

The video has been a problem trying to capture and upload, but as soon as it is ready it will be posted here.