Reply to James Baller’s Criticism of Municipally Owned Broadband Networks: A Critical Evaluation (Revised Edition)

Published June 29, 2005

James Baller is an attorney paid by municipalities and the American Public Power Association to defend municipal utilities and, apparently, to attack those who are skeptical of municipalization.

The Heartland Institute, an independent nonprofit organization with a 21-year record of producing reliable research on a wide variety of public policy issues, recently became his target by releasing two policy studies questioning the financial viability of municipal broadband proposals.

Heartland President Joseph L. Bast has produced this response to Baller’s May 10, 2005 criticism of Municipally Owned Broadband Networks: A Critical Evaluation (Revised Edition), written by Bast and published by The Heartland Institute in October 2004.