The former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting broke federal law and repeatedly violated the organization’s rules and code of ethics in his efforts to promote conservatives in the system, an endeavor that included consultation with White House officials, according to the findings of an internal investigation made public Tuesday.
The 67-page report — the culmination of a six-month investigation by Kenneth A. Konz, the corporation’s inspector general — portrays former Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson as a rogue appointee who often exceeded his authority in his determination to address what he viewed as a liberal tilt in public broadcasting.
Konz’s report depicts the corporation as a deeply dysfunctional institution in which there has been little oversight over hiring and contracting and minimal communication between the professional staff and the board, made up of political appointees.
In his report, Konz agreed that Tomlinson — a Republican who was originally appointed by President Clinton — overstepped his boundaries and broke corporation rules. But he did not conclude that Tomlinson was seeking to remake the corporation as a conservative institution, as critics have charged, noting that the former chairman was following the CPB’s mandate to ensure objectivity and balance in public broadcasting.
In a statement included in the inspector general’s report, Tomlinson, who resigned his board position this month, denied any wrongdoing. He called the findings a triumph of “politics over good judgment” and disputed the charges as “malicious and irresponsible.”
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