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WASHINGTON - Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) today joined Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Senate colleagues in calling on President Bush to fire Kenneth Tomlinson, Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, for actively undermining the nonpartisan, nonprofit corporation.
In a letter to the President today Lieberman and his colleagues expressed disapproval of a number of partisan actions that Tomlinson has taken recently, such as hiding public polling that indicated widespread support for PBS as a “fair and balanced” source of news, attempting to cut news programs he considered biased, and nominating former Republican National Committee Chairman Patricia Harrison to head PBS.
“In an age where television programming is increasingly focused on the bottom line, it is more crucial than ever that our public broadcasting system remain adequately funded and true to its mission of providing Americans with nonpartisan, nonprofit information and educational programming,” Lieberman said. “Kenneth Tomlinson’s actions call into question his commitment to public broadcasting and Americans would be better served with a less partisan leader of this important national treasure.”
Joining Lieberman and Schumer on the letter were Senators Lautenberg, Stabenow, Leahy, Feinstein, Wyden, Corzine, Bill Nelson, Durbin, Kennedy, Harkin, Biden, Boxer, Mikulski and Cantwell.
Also today, Lieberman, a longtime supporter of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, joined colleagues in writing to the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over CPB to urge the Committee to adequately fund the Corporation, and to reject the cuts proposed by the House Appropriations Committee. In their letter, the Senators noted that the educational programs supported by CPB often represent the only safe harbor for many parents.
The full text of the letter is available here.
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