The Lynn Community Access & Media, Inc. (LynnCAM) saga involving financial misappropriation allegations leveled by the state attorney general against the former cable television public-access provider has come to an end.
Attorney General Maura Healey’s office filed an entry for final judgment on the LynnCAM case on Oct. 21 a day after Healey’s office received court approval to transfer $20,000 held in escrow from the case to LynnCAM’s successor, Lynn Community Television (LCTV).
Organized in 2005 under the federal Cable Act, LynnCAM and its oversight board were responsible for managing money provided to the city by cable providers Comcast and Verizon for cable public-access programming.
The AG’s office in 2015 filed allegations charging board members with “misappropriation without authorization” and fiduciary-duty breaches. To sum up the charges, board members were accused of failing their responsibility to honor the public trust by properly overseeing the access provider’s finances.
Even as the AG entered the LynnCAM financial fray, concerned Lynn cable subscribers confronted the board and demanded answers about the access provider’s operations. Reporting by this newspaper documented how those questions were shouted down or derided by board members.
To her credit, former Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy cut off cable-provider funding to LynnCAM and used her executive authority to form LCTV and organize a board made up of community members, including two former City Council members and two prominent local attorneys.
A quick glance at LCTV’s 2021 election season coverage testifies to the provider’s professional and competent job broadcasting quality programming.
The AG’s actions against LynnCAM ultimately resulted in consent judgments approved by the court prohibiting the top three former board members from accepting financial oversight positions in a Massachusetts public charity.
We are confident the $20,000 transferred to LCTV will support quality cable programming overseen by a responsible board.
