Lawmakers Angered Over Smithsonian Deal
May 1, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute
Two members of Congress have voiced disapproval over the Smithsonian Institution’s contract with the Showtime cable-television network to produce 100 shows each year on the museum’s archives, reports The Washington Post.
In a letter to the Smithsonian’s managers, Rep. Charles Taylor, Republican of North Carolina and chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees spending at the Smithsonian, and Rep. Norman D. Dicks, Democrat of Washington, urged the museum’s Board of Regents to review the decision. The lawmakers expressed concern that the contract “violates the spirit if not the letter of the Smithsonian Trust.”
The deal has received criticism from filmmakers and historians, many of whom say they are angry that their own access to the archives has been restricted in recent years for security reasons.
