Politicizing the Arts Community: What Did the White House Do Wrong?

The allegations raised in “White House Creates ACORN for the Arts” and prior stories about the NEA enlisting artists who receive government grants to support President Obama’s political goals certainly raise a number of issues.  Foremost among them is whether such actions violate White House policy and potentially federal law.  The White House Counsel was concerned enough about the conference call that it was compelled to issue new guidelines for public outreach meetings, noting that some of the comments on the call may have been “misunderstood as seeking to inappropriately politicize activities of the NEA.”  But beyond violating these White House guidelines, which could result in further forced resignations but little else, what is really at issue with the alleged conduct?

By seeking to enlist the private sector in lobbying for the President’s agenda, the alleged conduct may have violated the Anti-Lobbying Act (18 U.S.C. §1913), which as Ben Shapiro pointed out in a previous piece, explicitly provides:

No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation, whether before or after the introduction of any bill, measure or resolution proposing such legislation, law, ratification, policy or appropriation.

The Anti-Lobbying Act, according to government handbooks, prevents government employees from engaging in “substantial ‘grass roots’ lobbying campaigns … expressly urging individuals to contact government officials in support of or opposition to legislation …. Provid[ing] administrative support for lobbing activities of private organizations”

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Tags: Anti-Lobbying Act, Ben Shapiro, Buffy Wicks, Hatch Act, Henry Waxman
Posted Oct 8th 2009 at 8:38 am in Culture, Featured Story, News, Obama, Politics | 1444638 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/spakovskyberke/2009/10/08/politicizing-the-arts-community-what-did-the-white-house-do-wrong/Politicizing+the+Arts+Community%3A+What+Did+the+White+House+Do+Wrong%3F2009-10-08+15%3A38%3A56Hans+von+Spakovsky+and+Elliot+S.+Berke

Demand Congressional Investigation: NEA Conference Call Broke Laws

In the aftermath of the Andrew Breitbart/James O’Keefe/Hannah Giles-broken ACORN scandal, President Obama and his allies in Congress have distanced themselves from the community organizing goliath.  Congress has cut off funds, and Obama has refused to speak about the matter.  End of story, right?

Wrong.

There’s only one problem: the ACORN mentality – pinpointing and mobilizing particular groups in support of a radical-left agenda – is no longer restricted to government-funded private non-profits like ACORN.  The ACORN mentality now dominates the government itself.  Taxpayer dollars are being used by elected officials to encourage the deification of President Obama and his agenda.  And one of the chief organs of the government propaganda machine is the National Endowment for the Arts.

Let’s start from the beginning.  On August 25, artist Patrick Courrielche told the story of a conference call he attended on August 10.  That conference call was hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement, and United We Serve.  The goal of the conference call: “to help lay a new foundation for growth, focusing on core areas of the recovery agenda – health care, energy and environment, safety and security, education, community renewal.”  The call would push “a group of artists, producers, promoters, organizers, influencers, marketers, taste-makers, leaders or just plain cool people to join together and work together to promote a more civically engaged America and celebrate how the arts can be used for a positive change!” (more…)

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Tags: "Scrubs", ACORN, Americans for the Arts, Americans for the Arts Artists Committee, Anti-Lobbying Act
Posted Sep 21st 2009 at 11:20 am in Culture, News, Obama, Politics | 6214No Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bshapiro/2009/09/21/demand-congressional-investigation-nea-conference-call-broke-laws/Demand+Congressional+Investigation%3A+NEA+Conference+Call+Broke+Laws+2009-09-21+18%3A20%3A19Ben+Shapiro