At about the same time last summer that Courier-Journal publisher Ed Manassah began pushing the LG&E site on Main Street for the new arena, he also was starting talks with Bellarmine University President Joseph McGowan about leaving the C-J to develop a new school of Communications, Mass Media, and Culture at the private Catholic college.
That seems a bit odd. Why would Manassah become involved so deeply in a major civic undertaking if he was thinking of getting out? And why would anybody at the peak of his career voluntarily give up the prestige of being president and publisher of the C-J to become the "executive-in-residence," whatever that means, at Bellarmine? A strange career move, for sure.
Whatever, Manassah did as good a job of keeping secret his negotiations with Bellarmine as he did his behind-the-scenes involvement with Jim Host, the former Commerce Cabinet Secretary who was vice-chairman of the Arena Task Force and is chairman of the Arena Authority.
On Monday, only five days after the Louisville Eccentric Observor newspaper called for Manassah to go public with details of his involvement in promoting the LG&E site to the exclusion of the old Water Company site and a Fairgrounds site, the newspaper’s parent company, Gannett, announced that Manassah had accepted the Bellarmine job and was being replaced by Denise Ivey, who leaves a similar job in Pensacola, Fl.
No doubt the timing is pure coincidence. Yet it also makes you wonder if the Gannett brass felt that Manassah had crossed the invisible line that defines a publisher’s responsibilities. It’s perfectly fine, not to mention good for business, for a publisher to be a civic booster. But it’s not fine for him, or her, to become so deeply involved with public officials or big business that he, or she, attempts to influence news coverage.
Years ago, the C-J secretly collaborated with local government officials in managing news about the airport expansion at Louisville International Airport. That was a black eye for the newspaper that claims to be an advocate of openness when it comes to the public’s business. Surely, neither Manassah nor any top executive at the paper would allow the C-J’s integrity to be compromised that way again.
It can only be hoped that before Manassah ends the C-J chapter of his career, he will talk publicly about his involvement in driving the arena to the LG&E site — specifically about any meetings he may have attended that also included Host and attorney Ed Glasscock of the powerful Frost Brown Todd firm. Contrary to popular belief, Glasscock does not have his fingeprints on everything important that happens in Louisville — it just seems that way. Interestingly, in light of Manassah’s unusual career move and unbridled affection for the LG&E site, Glasscock belongs to the Bellarmine board of trustees and also represents LG&E.
At roughly the same time Monday that the news about Manassah was spreading throughout the C-J, Host chaired the first official meeting of the 15-member Arena Authority that will issue bonds to pay for the construction and supervise everything to do with the project. The Arena Authority is attached to state government through the Kentucky Sports Authority, an agency of the Commerce Cabinet that Host led before he left state government on Oct. 14. The Commerce Cabinet also includes the State Fair Board and the Governor’s Office of Energy Policy.
During what was virtually a one-man show, Host appointed himself as the Arena Authority spokesperson. He also said that he is near completion on agreements with the University of Louisville and the State Fair Board that he will present to the Authority for their ratification sometime in the near future. Nobody representing either U of L or the Fair Board appeared before the panel, and Authority Member Junior Bridgeman, chair of U of L’s board of trustees, did not address the university’s needs or expectations.
Host also contended that there’s uncertainty over whether the Arena Authority, because of its tax status, is legally required to open its meetings to the media and public. However, he magnanimously decreed that the meetings would be open, regardless of what the law says.
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