Thought Theater

Tomlinson: Bush Appointee In Trouble Again genre: Hip-Gnosis & Polispeak & Six Degrees of Speculation

Kenneth Tomlinson, former head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a position from which he was forced to resign, is once again under scrutiny for questionable activities in his new position with the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Tomlinson was ousted from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting after he came under fire for attempting to alter public broadcasting programming to reflect a more conservative message as well as other questionable practices. Read the full New York Times article here.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 — State Department investigators have found that the head of the agency overseeing most government broadcasts to foreign countries has used his office to run a “horse racing operation" and that he improperly put a friend on the payroll, according to a summary of a report made public on Tuesday by a Democratic lawmaker.

Mr. Tomlinson’s position at the broadcasting board makes him one of the administration’s top officials overseeing public diplomacy and puts him in charge of the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe.

Mr. Tomlinson, 62, is a former editor of Reader’s Digest who has close ties to Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s political strategist and senior adviser. Mr. Rove and Mr. Tomlinson were on the board of the predecessor to the broadcasting board in the 90’s. Mr. Tomlinson has been chairman of the broadcasting board since 2002.

Not unlike his friend, Karl Rove, Mr. Tomlinson seems to have a propensity for pushing the limits in order to advance his agenda while always attempting to downplay any inference of impropriety. He, like Karl Rove, continues to have the full support of the President which leaves one inclined to conclude that so long as appointees promote the same agenda endorsed by the President they will remain in positions of influence despite unethical, if not criminal, behavior. One might speculate that the values of the President and his operatives wane at the waters edge.

The heavily edited State Department report on Mr. Tomlinson’s activities at the Broadcasting Board of Governors did not identify the friend who received the improper employment contract. The report said that there was no competitive bidding to hire him, that he was retired and on a government pension when Mr. Tomlinson hired him and that he never filed the required paperwork with the board.

Mr. Tomlinson was rebuked in the earlier report at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for improperly hiring an acquaintance from a journalism center founded by the American Conservative Union. The corporation paid the person more than $20,000 to monitor public radio and television programs for bias, including “Now," with Bill Moyers as host.

People who have seen the report said it noted that Mr. Tomlinson, on his lawyer’s advice, ended an interview with investigators early. One person familiar with the inquiry said Mr. Hamilton ended the interview as the investigators began to ask about using the office for horse racing business. Mr. Hamilton would not comment about the interview.

Mr. Tomlinson joins a long list of Bush cronies who have been scrutinized for improper activities and unethical practices. Nonetheless, the President continues to appoint these individuals to significant positions. As an aside, it seems a bit comical that Tomlinson and former FEMA Director Michael Brown were both involved with raising horses...a coincidence one might connect with the President's preference for "cowboy diplomacy".

Perhaps they should be joined by Bill Bennett on a Presidential committee to explore the virtues of exposing more Americans to gaming and gambling related enterprises. After all, that seems like a worthwhile consideration for a President committed to family values, doesn't it?