Under Investigation-Corporation for Public Broadcasting Chairman-Official Had Aide Send Data to White House
June 18, 2005 Official Had Aide Send Data to White HouseBy STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, June 17 - E-mail messages obtained by investigators at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting show that its chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, extensively consulted a White House official shortly before she joined the corporation about creating an ombudsman's office to monitor the balance and objectivity of public television and radio programs.
Mr. Tomlinson said in an interview three months ago that he did not think he had instructed a subordinate to send material on the ombudsman project to Mary C. Andrews at her White House office in her final days as director of global communications, a political appointment.
But the e-mail messages show that a month before the interview, he directed Kathleen Cox, then president of the corporation, to send material to Ms. Andrews at her White House e-mail address. They show that Ms. Andrews worked on a variety of ombudsman issues before joining the corporation, while still on the White House payroll. And they show that the White House instructed the corporation on Ms. Andrews's job title in her new post.
A senior corporation executive who is concerned about its direction under Mr. Tomlinson provided copies of the e-mail messages to The New York Times. Fearing retribution, the executive insisted on anonymity as a condition for providing the copies.
The e-mail messages are part of the evidence being collected in a broad inquiry by the inspector general of the corporation into whether Mr. Tomlinson violated any rules that require that the corporation act as a buffer between politics and programming.
Investigators are examining the role played by the White House in the creation of the ombudsman's office at the corporation, an office Mr. Tomlinson said he advanced as part of a broader effort to ensure balance and objectivity in programming. Executives in public television and radio have said his actions threatened their editorial independence.
Under investigation are $14,170 in contracts signed by Mr. Tomlinson with an Indiana man who monitored the political leanings of the guests on "Now" when Bill Moyers was its host. And the investigators are looking at $15,000 in payments to two Republican lobbyists last year at the direction of Mr. Tomlinson and his Republican predecessor, who remains a board member.
Mr. Tomlinson declined to respond to questions about the investigation or anything else. "We decline comment during the inspector general's review and await their report clarifying these and all related circumstances," he said by e-mail on Friday. "We are confident that the report will conclude that all of these actions were taken in accordance with the relevant rules and regulations."
In a little-noticed speech on the floor of the Senate this week, Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota, said that in response to his request for the reports on the "Now" program, Mr. Tomlinson provided him with the raw data from reports.
Mr. Dorgan said that Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, was classified in the data as a "liberal" for an appearance on a segment of a show that questioned the Bush Administration's policies in Iraq. Mr. Hagel is considered a mainstream conservative with a maverick streak and a willingness to criticize the White House.
Another segment about financial waste at the Pentagon was classified as "anti-Defense," Mr. Dorgan said. He criticized Mr. Tomlinson for spending taxpayer money for studies to examine programs "to see if something is being said that might be critical about a president or Congress."
On Friday, Mr. Dorgan and two Democratic colleagues, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey, sent Mr. Tomlinson a letter urging him to postpone his plans to urge the board to appoint Patricia Harrison, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, to be the corporation's next president. Ms. Cox resigned in April after her contract was not renewed.
"Press reports have noted that you requested a review of the program 'Now With Bill Moyers,' made payments to Republican lobbyists, and did not disclose these actions to the board of the CPB," the letter said. "We are greatly troubled by these allegations, and if they prove true, we believe your conduct as chairman of the board has been highly inappropriate."
Ms. Andrews's role in the creation of the ombudsman's office and other steps taken by Mr. Tomlinson over the last few months, which he says are meant to ensure balance and objectivity in programming, have prompted criticism by public television and radio executives. They say the corporation is threatening their editorial independence.
While Ms. Andrews was in her final days at her old job and had already accepted a job with the corporation, Mr. Tomlinson instructed its president, Ms. Cox, to send to Ms. Andrews's White House office "anything you have on ombudsmen" as well as the "bios" of the two candidates for the post, according to an e-mail message dated Thursday, March 17.
"She's promised to help me produce something by Tuesday," Mr. Tomlinson said of Ms. Andrews.
On March 22, Mr. Tomlinson sent Ms. Cox another piece of e-mail. "By the way MC did terrific job (in my opinion) on press release and talking points on ombudsmen," it said. "She will give you material at lunch and don't hesitate to suggest changes."
In a third e-mail message the next day, March 23, Mr. Tomlinson told Ms. Cox that White House officials were insisting that Ms. Andrews's title would be "senior advisor to the president" when she began working at the corporation a few days later.
"Maybe you missed but when I phoned you," he wrote in a follow-up message, "I specifically mentioned the title issue and if I didn't mention the white house I was trying not to drop names. I promise you she will be worth her weight in gold to you."
Ms. Andrews's first day on the corporation's payroll was March 25.
In an interview in April, Mr. Tomlinson was asked if he had instructed anyone to send material to Ms. Andrews while at the White House.
"I don't think so," he replied. Asked also if Ms. Andrews had done any work on the ombudsmen project while she was at the White House, he said, "I don't think so."
"She was on her way to this job," he then added. "Whether there was a two- or three-day period that overlapped, I don't know."
Ms. Andrews has said that she was making a transition from the White House to the corporation when she worked on a minimal amount of material on the ombudsman project, and that any work she did was out of her White House office and on her own time.
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