Tracy Rowlett's Tired of the FBI Investigation at City Hall

By Robert Wilonsky Mon., Apr. 30 2007 at 8:40 AM

Categories: Media, News

We gave KTVT-Channel 11 a hard time last week; deserved it too, what with all the fear-mongering and ambulance-chasing going on at the CBS affiliate under the new news directors. But last night, on-the-outs anchor Tracy Rowlett, a man who's probably never had much use for a police scanner, gave one of his very occasional "perspective" pieces concerning the FBI investigation at City Hall that's taken a "ridiculous" amount of time to complete.

He provided a long history of the investigation (oh, yeah -- Brian Potashnik, affordable housing, tax credits, Don Hill's BMW, Terri Hodge's free rent), touched on the political ramifications of the investigation ("Hill said this week the FBI investigation is in part politically motivated, designed to keep him from becoming mayor. I find that far fetched"), mentioned "that ugly matter of race" and concluded that no matter the feds' viable excuses, "We must know the outcome of this investigation, and the sooner the better." In related news, KXAS-Channel 5 on Friday night mentioned in a "breaking news" segment that several people involved in the investigation, including at least one council member, have been subpoenaed to appear in front of the grand jury. No sources were mentioned, the station didn't archive the short piece, but Jane McGarry did shout the story very effectively. --Robert Wilonsky