Alabama Public Television is soliciting funds using a form letter signed by its past director Allan Pizzato, who was fired earlier this year, reports The Associated Press.
APT spokesperson Mike McKenzie told AP that a direct-mail company sent the letter by mistake. “We’ve done other mailings between then and now — other campaigns — where Allan’s name was replaced,” he said. About 1,000 copies were mailed.
“They did it about a month after he was fired and they were told not to do it again,” Mark White, Pizzato’s attorney, told AP. “I think they know a letter from Allan will raise more money than a letter from anyone else they have.”
Pizzato and his deputy were terminated by the Atlanta Educational Television Commission in June after disagreements over programming and APT’s mission statement. He has since been hired to head WYES in New Orleans.