[Mb-hair] How The Far Right Co-Opted PBS

[Jim Burns]

This was a win-win for the Far Right:

They attempted to co-opt PBS' broadcasting, and now the findings of the
malfeasance of the conservative operative, will be used to try to
further slash Public Television's budget, and can also be used to make
PBS' corporate structure, look weak....    Jim

Broadcast Chief Violated Laws, Inquiry Finds  
By STEPHEN LABATON
The New York Times
Published: November 16, 2005

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 - Investigators at the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting said on Tuesday that they had uncovered evidence that its
former chairman had repeatedly broken federal law and the organization's
own regulations in a campaign to combat what he saw as liberal bias.

A report concluded that Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, shown here testifying on
funding for public broadcasting in July, repeatedly broke federal law in
a campaign to combat what he saw as liberal bias. 

A report by the corporation's inspector general, sent to Congress on
Tuesday, described a dysfunctional organization that appeared to have
violated the Public Broadcasting Act, which created the corporation and
was written to insulate programming decisions from politics. 
The former chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, who was ousted from the board
two weeks ago when it was presented with the details of the report in a
closed session, has said he sought to enforce a provision of the
broadcasting act meant to ensure objectivity and balance in programming.

But in the process, the report said, Mr. Tomlinson repeatedly crossed
statutory boundaries that had set up the corporation as a "heat shield"
to protect public radio and television from political interference.

In a statement distributed with the report, Mr. Tomlinson rejected its
conclusions. He said any suggestion that he had violated his duties or
the law was "malicious and irresponsible" and that the inspector general
had opted "for politics over good judgment."

"Unfortunately, the inspector general's preconceived and unjustified
findings will only help to maintain the status quo and other reformers
will be discouraged from seeking change," said Mr. Tomlinson, who has
repeatedly defended his decisions as part of an effort to restore
balance to programming. "Regrettably, as a result, balance and
objectivity will not come soon to elements of public broadcasting." 

The inspector general's report is the first official conclusion that Mr.
Tomlinson appears to have violated both the law and the corporation's
own rules. It is also the first detailed and official inside look at the
dynamics of the corporation as some of its career staff members have
struggled with conservative Republican appointees seeking to change its
direction. 

The report said investigators found evidence that Mr. Tomlinson had
violated federal law by being heavily involved in getting more than $4
million for a program featuring writers of the conservative editorial
page of The Wall Street Journal. 

It said he had imposed a "political test" to recruit a new president of
the corporation. And it said his decision to hire Republican consultants
to defeat legislation violated contracting rules. 

The corporation received $400 million from Congress this year to finance
an array of programs on public television and radio. Its future
financing has come under heavy criticism, particularly from conservative
lawmakers. Its board is selected by the president and confirmed by the
Senate. 
The author of the report, Kenneth A. Konz, was hired by the corporation
in the 1990's to be its inspector general after retiring from a long
career in the inspector general's office at the Environmental Protection
Agency. 

No sanctions or further action against Mr. Tomlinson will follow from
the report's findings, Mr. Konz said. But some broadcasting officials
say they fear that the report may be used to attack the corporation's
budget, already in jeopardy as lawmakers look for money to help pay for
rebuilding the Gulf Coast and starting an inoculation program against
avian flu.
The report said Mr. Tomlinson appeared to have violated federal law by
promoting "The Journal Editorial Report" and said he had "admonished
C.P.B. senior executive staff not to interfere with his deal to bring a
balancing program" to public broadcasting.

The board is prohibited from becoming involved in programming decisions,
but the investigators found that Mr. Tomlinson had pushed hard for the
program, even as some staff officials at the corporation had raised
concerns about its cost.
E-mail messages from around the same time show that he threatened to
withhold money from public broadcasting "in a New York minute" if public
broadcasting did not balance its lineup.
     
The investigators found evidence that "political tests" were a major
criterion used by Mr. Tomlinson in recruiting the corporation's new
president, Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican
National Committee and a former senior State Department official. 

According to the report, Ms. Harrison was given the job after being
promoted for it by an unidentified White House official. Investigators
said they had found e-mail correspondence between Mr. Tomlinson and the
White House that while "cryptic" in nature "gives the appearance that
the former chairman was strongly motivated by political considerations
in filling the president/C.E.O. position." 

The corporation's presidency, its senior staff job, is traditionally
reserved for a nonpartisan expert in public broadcasting.

The report said Mr. Tomlinson had defended his decision to hire a
candidate with strong political ties because of the need to build
relationships with Congress for future requests for financing.

Ms. Harrison disputed suggestions that she was motivated by politics.

"Only actions will dispel critics who believe I have a political agenda,
which I do not have," she said in an interview Tuesday. "I want to
define my tenure in as open a way as I can."
She said excellence, creativity and quality were as important in
programming as objectivity and balance. 

The report said politics might have been involved in other personnel
decisions. In one case, it said, a candidate to become the senior vice
president for corporate and public affairs was asked by a board member
about her political contributions in the last election. 

Another official was given a particular job title at the corporation at
the request of the White House, it said

The report said Mr. Tomlinson's decision to hire two Republican
consultants to help the corporation in its lobbying efforts against
public broadcasting legislation last year was "not handled in accordance
with C.P.B.'s contracting procedures." 

The inspector general criticized another contract with a researcher to
monitor "Now" when its host was Bill Moyers because Mr. Tomlinson had
signed it without informing the board and without board authorization. 

The report said that a White House official, Mary C. Andrews, had worked
on a plan by the corporation to create a new office of ombudsmen to
promote balance in programming. Ms. Andrews had been hired by the
corporation at the time but was still on the White House payroll, the
report said. 

It said her efforts "appeared to be advisory in nature and she did not
provide the ombudsmen with guidelines on how to operate or interfere
with their functioning." But it also found that the decision to sign
contracts with two ombudsmen "does not appear to comply with established
C.P.B. procurement processes."

After a board meeting Tuesday morning at which the corporation adopted a
series of resolutions to impose tighter financial controls, Mr.
Tomlinson's successor in the chairmanship, Cheryl Halpern, met with
senior lawmakers in hope of blunting any political fallout. 

But the report poses its own problems for Ms. Halpern, a Republican
fund-raiser, and the rest of the board, which supported Mr. Tomlinson's
agenda.

"Our review found an organizational environment that allowed the former
chairman and other C.P.B. executives to operate without appropriate
checks and balances," the report said. It ascribed the problems in part
to the "culture of C.P.B."

Ms. Halpern headed the board's audit committee under Mr. Tomlinson. She
was Mr. Tomlinson's choice to succeed him after he served as chairman
for two years. He has said that he selected her, in part, because of her
continued commitment to end any programming bias.

The report questioned a severance package for the corporation's previous
president, Kathleen A. Cox, who was forced to resign abruptly in April
after a series of disagreements with Mr. Tomlinson.

According to the report, the package was more than three times her
annual compensation, and Mr. Tomlinson structured its payouts over a
period of years so that the lump sum would not be disclosed on publicly
available tax records.
In a statement attached to the report, Ms. Cox named board members other
than Mr. Tomlinson who she said were involved in some decisions
criticized by the inspector general. Ms. Cox said she was forced to
resign after Mr. Tomlinson told her she was "not political enough" for
the job.

The report came in response to requests by two senior Democratic
lawmakers, Representatives David R. Obey of Wisconsin and John D.
Dingell of Michigan. Their request followed an article in The New York
Times in May that described the contract to monitor "Now," the plan to
hire Ms. Harrison, the role Mr. Tomlinson played in promoting "The
Journal Editorial Report," and Ms. Andrews's role in the creating the
office of ombudsman. 

Mr. Tomlinson remains the head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors,
which supervises all American government broadcasting programs overseas. 

The inspector general of the State Department is examining accusations
at the broadcasting board of misuse of federal money and the use of
phantom or unqualified employees by Mr. Tomlinson.

In a recent letter, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of
Connecticut, asked President Bush to consider ordering Mr. Tomlinson to
step down from the board of governors until that investigation was
completed.


© Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company