Report Says Ex-Chief of Public TV Violated Federal Law

By Stephen Labaton
The New York Times

Tuesday 15 November 2005

Washington - Investigators at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting concluded today that its former chairman repeatedly broke federal law and its own regulations in a campaign to combat what he saw as liberal bias.

The scathing report by the corporation's inspector general described a dysfunctional organization that violated the Public Broadcasting Act, which created the corporation and was written to insulate programming decisions from politics.

The corporation received $400 million this year from Congress to finance an array of programs on public television and radio, although 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 corporation's former chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, who was ousted from the board two weeks ago when it was presented in a closed session with the details of the report, has said he sought to enforce a provision of the Public Broadcasting Act meant to ensure objectivity and balance in programming. But the report said that in the process, Mr. Tomlinson repeatedly crossed statutory boundaries that set up the corporation as a "heat shield" to protect public radio and television from political interference.

For instance, the report said that Mr. Tomlinson violated federal law by being heavily involved in getting more than $4 million in money for a program featuring the conservative editorial writers of The Wall Street Journal. The board is prohibited from getting involved in programming decisions, but the investigators found that Mr. Tomlinson had pushed hard for the program, "The Journal Editorial Report," even as some staff officials at the corporation raised concerns over its cost.

Mr. Tomlinson, in a statement distributed with the report, rejected its conclusions, saying that any suggestion that he violated his duties or the law "is malicious and irresponsible."

"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."

No sanctions or further action will automatically follow from the report's findings. But some broadcasting officials fear it may be used to attack the corporation's budget, which is already in some jeopardy as lawmakers look for money to help pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast and mounting an avian flu inoculation program.

The report said investigators found evidence that "political tests" were a major criteria used by Mr. Tomlinson in recruiting the corporation's new president, Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee and former senior State Department official.

According to the report, she was given the job after being promoted for it by an unidentified official at the White House. Investigators found e-mail messages between Mr. Tomlinson and the White House that, "while ""cryptic"" in nature, give "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, has historically been reserved for a nonpartisan expert in public broadcasting.

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

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," Ms. Harrison said in an interview today. "I want to define my tenure in as open a way as I can." She said that excellence, creativity and quality are as important in programming as objectivity and balance.

The report said politics might also have been involved in other personnel decisions. In one case, 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 position at the corporation, according to the report, at the request of the White House.

The report said that Mr. Tomlinson's decision to hire two Republican consultants to lobby against public broadcasting legislation last year was "not handled in accordance with CPB's contracting procedures." The inspector general criticized another contract with a researcher to monitor the "Now" program, when its host was Bill Moyers, because it was signed by Mr. Tomlinson without informing the board and without board authorization.

The report confirmed an article in The New York Times that a White House official, Mary C. Andrews, 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.

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 CPB procurement processes."

Following a board meeting this morning at which the corporation adopted a series of resolutions to impose tighter financial controls, Mr. Tomlinson's successor as chairman, Cheryl Halpern, met with senior lawmakers in hopes 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 for many months supported Mr. Tomlinson's broader efforts at objectivity.

Ms. Halpern headed the board's audit committee under Mr. Tomlinson, and she raised concerns among executives at National Public Radio for criticizing its coverage of the Middle East. She was also Mr. Tomlinson's choice to succeed her, in part, he has said, because of her continued commitment to end any programming bias.

The report questioned a severance package for the corporation's former president, Kathleen A. Cox, who was forced to resign abruptly last April after a series of disagreements with Mr. Tomlinson. According to the report, the package - more than $600,000 - 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 other board members aside from Mr. Tomlinson who she said were involved in some of the decisions criticized by the inspector general. Ms. Cox said she was forced to resign after Mr. Tomlinson told her that she was "not political enough" for the job.

The report, prepared by Inspector General Kenneth A. Konz, came in response to requests by two senior Democratic lawmakers, Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin and John Dingell of Michigan. Their request followed an article in The Times last May that described Mr. Tomlinson's campaign to correct what he and other conservatives consider to be liberal bias in public broadcasting.

Mr. Tomlinson remains the head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which supervises all American government-broadcasting programs overseas, including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and al-Hurra. Acting on complaints from some officials there, the inspector general of the State Department is examining accusations of misuse of federal money and the use of phantom or unqualified employees.

In a letter last week, Senator Chris 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.