Democrats Fail to Oust Broadcasting Board Chair
Democrats on the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs American broadcasting services overseas, tried Wednesday to oust the current board chair, Kenneth Tomlinson, a Republican. A party-line vote means that Tomlinson will keep his seat. Tomlinson was the subject of a recent, highly critical government inquiry.
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Democrats at the federal agency that runs U.S. broadcasting services overseas tried to force the resignation of its Republican chairman yesterday. The move, which failed, comes after a highly critical government inquiry.
NPR's David Folkenflik reports.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK: The Broadcasting Board of Governors operates the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Marti. More recently, the board created the Arabic language Alhurra Television and Radio Sawa with strong bipartisan support. That appears to be gone now.
Yesterday, the three Democratic board members called for chairman Kenneth Tomlinson to step down. An inspector general has found Tomlinson had broken federal statutes by hiring a friend, billing the agency for too many hours, and running his horse racing business from his government office.
Tomlinson is a conservative with close ties to the White House. In an interview last week with NPR, Tomlinson disputed the inquiry's conclusions and blamed Democrats on the board for his troubles. Yesterday he pointed at former Democratic board member Norman Pattiz.
The three current Democrats jointly rejected Tomlinson's accusations of partisanship. Their bid to oust Tomlinson failed on a party line vote with Tomlinson abstaining. So did their call for Tomlinson to give up his authority until the board reviewed the full investigative findings.
David Folkenflik, NPR News, Washington.
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