BREAKING: NEA Chairman Addresses Aug 10 Conf. Call
by Big HollywoodThe former NEA Director of Communications acted unilaterally and without the approval or authorization of then-Acting Chairman Patrice Walker Powell.
STATEMENT FROM NEA CHAIRMAN ROCCO LANDESMAN
September 22, 2009
As chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, I would like to clarify the issues concerning an August conference call in which an NEA employee participated.
Here are the facts.
Fact 1: The former NEA Director of Communications helped organize and participated in an August 10th conference call to introduce members of the arts community to United We Serve and to provide them with information on how the Corporation for National and Community Service can assist groups interested in sponsoring service projects or having their members volunteer on other projects.
Fact 2: The former NEA Director of Communications acted unilaterally and without the approval or authorization of then-Acting Chairman Patrice Walker Powell.
Fact 3: This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false. Rather, the call was to inform members of the arts community of an opportunity to become involved in volunteerism.
Fact 4: Some of the language used by the former NEA Director of Communications was, unfortunately, not appropriate and did not reflect the position of the NEA. This employee has been relieved of his duties as director of communications.
You can read the statement in full here.
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110 Comments
Well, we'll fire somebody and that will make it alright. See, he's gone so now we are pure as the driven snow.
This dude must think we are stupid. What a crock. Keep digging the hole.
We aren't buyin' it!
The unending propaganda, I mean… “SPRECHEN SIE PROPAGANDA? WHY THE LEFT LOVES LIES” at http://firebreathingchristian.wordpress.com/2009/...
Keep the light on these roaches, BigGovernment.com!
You know what? This just doesn't pass the smell test.
The employer has a responsiblity for the employee, always! As an example: I am a nurse, if I make a medical mistake and there is an injury, my employer (the hospital) is also liable.
Same goes for any boss. Geesh.
The fact is, Yosi Sargent was not fired….he was "reassigned" within the NEA. What I hate the most about this scandal, all the other scandals, and the messiah and his band of thugs in general is that they think we are all so stupid. We are not stupid people, and we're ready to fight!
Keep squeezing, it's working. It's just what the left would do. Don't give up! Keep squeezing!
What a bunch of Barbra Striesand.
"This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false."
wow – so the immediate reaction from the participants w/in days of the call is purely coincidental? all on the call new who the "asks" were coming from.
still waiting to hear about ms buffy….. likely just another "reassign"
Sue, you are right… Thinks stinks to high heaven. Did you notice how fast they threw their "employee under the bus"….. Kinda like the "Acorn" employees….Unfortunately for us we elected a president that is a Marxist Radical and is tranforming our country into something "We The People" don't want…..He needs to stopped with any/all legislation…
Ok then NEA… So you are not holding hands with Obama?? Right!!
Is the head of the NEA stupid? Or do they think we are stupid? These people have been caught red-handed in the act of soliciting support for Team Obama's political agenda. The activity was criminal. It needs to be prosecuted.
Van Jones,Mark LLoyd,Buffy wicks,Valerie Jarret,Annie Leonard ,Is this what we want in are goverment? This needs to be stopped!
This word "fact" that they use must not mean what it means in my dictionary.
True facts would be a good thing.
Well, Peter, the very fact that you had to go to the dictionary to define 'fact' says to me that you're stretching …
Lie 3: This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false.
The call was clearly a means to promote an agenda. It was the entire point of the call. The callers said as much.
Talk about contempt for your audience.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by IVoted4TheAmerican and Mary Arbogast. Mary Arbogast said: http://bit.ly/RnrAe via @addthis UH-oh..NEA Chair speaks out. All the weaknesses in admin. are being exposed. Prez linked to all this oopsie [...]
Good thing I don't hate hyperliteral people.
Mr. Landesman's statement is a condescending, defiant and unacceptable insult to the intelligence. As for his forur "facts," here's the response of this taxpayer to each:
Fact 1: That's not the whole story, is it? He claimed in the call to have been asked by the WH to bring these artists together (most of whom are NEA grant recipients) to turn their attention to aiding the WH with political issues. Your understatement is absurd.
Fact 2: Seeing as he was the Director of Communications for NEA and, presumably was conducting this business on company (so to speak) time, the assertion that he acted completely on his own is hard to accept. It's not as though he was some low-level clerical worker with an activist bent, he was your Director of Communications. Your assertion is laughable.
Fact 3: The call most certainly did attempt to promote a legislative agenda. Listen to the tape and explain the presence of the WH.
Fact 4: You bet the language was a problem. This employee–who, as you assert, was acting completely on his own, should be fired for such a foolish act that would bring such embarrassment to the NEA. As a taxpayer who finds this behavior odious, (and who pays his salary), I'd like to know where he was "reassigned" to. Your obfuscation is insulting.
That the NEA would make this adversarial, defensive and frankly, untruthful response to this very real and troubling issue is disturbing at best. If this is the official response, I say it is time to closely scrutinize the NEA and reconsider its funding.
or Mecha Streisand….
He must have been referencing a call he was on with his wife. The parts of the call I heard very much were talking about pushing Obama's agenda. Helen Keller could have heard that.
Reconsider? Now? Where have you all been? What the "f" is the gov't doing funding "art" anyway. Is it fair that a resident of Kansas has to pay for an art display containing urine and the Madonna? NO. There is no reforming the NEA, there is no reviewing the funding. End it now. Close the department….make it happen.
This statement would've been slightly believable if it had been released, THE NEXT DAY! after the call! But WEEKS after the call took place and you've finally clarified what the call was? They must think we're ACORN workers.
As the song goes… what kind of fool do you think I am?
"Fact 3" strikes me as being "simply false."
I am looking more and more for ways to sabotage the efforts of a government which is developing into a dangerous socialist entity. I canceled my newspaper because of liberal bias, and they sent me an email saying my account is closed permanently. Do you think they did not like my comments? More of should do the same. Hit them in the pocketbook, please.
Gee, you'd think he might have taken a few minutes to listen to the call before he made a statement on it. But is sure seems there's a whole lot of "not appropriate" in this administration.
oops. left a word out. More of US is what I meant.
Everyone knows that they were delving into areas not exactly legal; thus, Yosi stating the need for a language that was safe for them to use (paraphrased by me).
Why have a 'special language' if all is innocent and above-board? These people KNEW they were verging on the illegal, and yet they jumped in with both feet. They should have to pay with their jobs and even with their funding.
Did Bertha Lewis from ACORN write this statement? It sure sounds like the same song and dance.
Yosi Sergant, was probably sitting next to the eh…hmm… “Chairman” snickering as they compiled their forceful denial letter. Horse twaddle!
It's so frustrating because all of this supidity/agenda is propogated by the in-the-tank media. So many people are loyal to them [it's how they were raise, I suppose], but, I agree, it's time to fight!
How do you say liar liar pants on fire in politispeak?
It looks as if the Washington Times was right and Rocco Landesman was wrong.
http://broadwayworld.com/article/Americans_for_th...
Lefty journalist Al Giordano wrote: "The right director, with this kind of WPA-style vision for the agency, will have it in her or his power to deploy those [stimulus] funds in ways that make this moment, ahem, revolutionary, but under the cover of clandestinity that the arts have provided progress in every culture since the dawn of history, and, at special moments, like during the presidency of FDR, have moved society and culture together in a great leap forward." http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/09/obama...
And put on a raincoat.
We may very well need one when this infected pimple pops.
I would like to say a little bit of both, but in reality it is a heaping steaming pile of both.
"Fact #3" really seals it. How can "Rocco" know anything about what was in that call and expect that to fly at all?
Well, either Rocco is remarkably stupid and has no idea what his staff is doing in which case he deserves to be fired or he's lying about what he knows and what the agenda really was in which case he should be fired. At the minimum he should be transferred to the State Fair Charcoal Caricatures Division of the NEA. At least that way he'd be generating some honest revenue.
The only difference is that the Democrats would have the state run media talking about it every minute on the news.
It ain't a fact until Barry says it is.
Did we not learn that during this health scare debate? Look at all that non-factual info that was actually in the House bill. All lies. Yup.
If I get a speeding ticket, I will explain to the judge that my driving was 'inappropriate', but not illegal, and cite my source as a "fact" from the Obama Administration. I'm sure that'll fly with da judge./ sarc.
Good thing you have a finely-tuned sarcasm detector.
Good thing you have a finely-tuned sarcasm detector, and a commanding grasp of current events.
How long before the 'racism' card is played on this issue?
I know that on 9/12 when in Washington DC the Security at the door of the NEA building would not let us in with any of our signs. He said it was not allowed. We would have to leave them outside unguarded. He would not give an explanation why either….
In business we torch folks that bring this kind of dishonor, if nothing else than to show our regulators we have the "balls" to enforce policy. If the Pubbies dont get this fellow's scalp woe be to them I know leftys would have the pelt in their bag..Agree?
Very interesting statement by the NEA…but didn't Michael Skolnik say at the first of the call that the White House et al asked them to get this going a month prior?
What B.S.
Rocco,
No need for your statement because the NEA acted irresponsbly, recklessly, and illegally on behalf of political agenda. On a personal note, I am tired of my Tax Dollars going to waste to support the Political agenda that I do not support. Moreover, I see that it's apparent that Yosi Sargant and all other parties involved acted in the behalf of yourself and the NEA. So please let me stress the importance of you cooperating with the investigators while they investigate you and your collegues.
Rocco,
No need for your statement because the NEA acted irresponsbly, recklessly, and illegally on behalf of political agenda. On a personal note, I am tired of my Tax Dollars going to waste to support the Political agenda that I do not support. Moreover, I see that it's apparent that Yosi Sargant and all other parties involved acted in the behalf of yourself and the NEA therefore, please let me stress the importance of you cooperating with the investigators while they investigate you and your collegues.
One word will cover it —– Obama.
This is so full of $#%&, this means nothing. The only thing they "THINK" they are guilty of is getting caught. To me this means there is soo much more there. Why all the scrubbing of websites in the past 24 hours ??
BS, typical scapegoat and bail scenario, attention deficit public in tow.
I can draw a pretty mean Charlie Brown… a little perturbed I wasn't alerted or invited to the call; but then again, I won't be going to jail. Just saying.
I don't know how long the "Corporation for National and Community Service" has been around, but in the context of this administration, it just sounds really creepy. "Corporation?" I'm thinking "Syndicate" every time I see or hear that…
>>" Fact 3: This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false. Rather, the call was to inform members of the arts community of an opportunity to become involved in volunteerism." <<
'You Lie!' Rocco…
Buffy Wicks, Valerie Jarrett's White House Deputy, stated on the Aug. 10 conference call:
“I'm at the Office of Public Engagement here at the White House… we work under Valerie Jarrett, she's one of our fantastic leaders and Tina Tchen… I’m actually in the White House and working towards furthering this agenda, this very aggressive agenda… we need you, and we’re going to need your help, and we’re going to come at you with some specific asks… We need your guys’ help to promote this."
Lindafromohio forgot the word us but these moronic fascists forget the initials U.S.
Charlie Manson (circa 1968): After I became aware of the events at the Tate and La Binaca residences, I have concluded that mistakes were made. The visits made to these homes by various members of my family of followers were inappropriate, and should not have occurred. I have initiated an internal family investigation of the visits, and will be issuing new guidelines to ensure that such visits do not occur in the future.
justavet
"How do you say liar liar pants on fire in politispeak?"
Liberal
also means fascist
This is with out a doubt, the most corrupt government I can ever recall. The sad thing about this story is that it to will be swept under the carpet and we will never hear any more about it. I, as an American, feel absolutely hopeless in any thing this government and President are doing to us and our country. I just pray that November 2010 isn't to late to fix a lot of this crap that is coming out of the White House. Why is it that every time the President opens his mouth, he either lies or denies everything and he gets away with it. I wonder if he even knows how to spell accountability. God Bless America
You keep using that word….I do not think it means what you think it means.
In breaking news – the former Director of Communications for the NEA has been charged with the task of investigating ACORN. A thorough and stylistic investigation will soon be underway, proclaimed Obama. "Although it's not like I really pay any attention to any of this stuff, of course."
In other news, Bertha Lewis will be having a 20-foot high portrait of her, placed on every two-story ACORN building, done for free by non-partisan volunteers from the NEA. "I will make sure that none of those portraits grace any of our brothels", promised Lewis. "We have standards."
You lie! Obama lies. NEA are liars! Abolish NEA, who needs it except for would be, wannabe, would have been artists. No real artist needs the crooked federal government to support them; if the public doesn't buy your art, then your art is garbage!
yosi = buffy = jarrett = obama ……come on folks … listen to the audio from what yosi says, then what buffy says …
Dam America are you that stiupid? Really?
This funding needs to be stopped …..
Our President will pull it when necessary. Mark my words – when his back is aganist a wall he will have to pull it…. I've seen it to many times in the county I live in…. They pull it at last costs – some get re-elected after pulling it but most go to jail for corruption… "FBI stings are a terrible thing to waste"
DING DING DING – We need a good pwerpoint presentation or VISIO that we can show and send to our congressmen that ties it all together since they are beholden to the letter R or D after thier names first?
I suk at it – anyone up to the task?
In all this run of NEA stories, does no one recall that Obama had already announced the creation of an "Artists Corps" to propagandize in the schools and communities? http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0116/p13s03-algn.ht... and http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/additional/... . It's all there, including "health care for artists", vastly increased NEA funding, and the use of artists to promote policy…
We need to pressure congress to knock of this BS of giving tax payer dollars to outfits such as the NEA. If they are so pssionate about art, well create some and sell it, keep your hands out ot the till, stay out of politics. This was not an innocent phone call that was somehow misunderstood, we all know what it was, this corrupt government of "Hope and Change" conducting business. Don't think that we could not end up like Venezula, they are building a shodow government and you had best be aware of it.
So they seem to be doing the "ACORN" thing: firing the puppets.
The only problem with that is the "root" is still rotten and bearing the same kind of fruit!
A biohazard protective suit would probably work better.
ROCCO LANDESMAN, all I can say is Bull S**T.
PS: We know you lefty kooks are reading this site because after a story with links is posted here the links are wiped clean. We must be driving you nuts….awww I feel for you…haha haha haha
"Is the head of the NEA stupid? Or do they think we are stupid?"
Both.
;"The activity was criminal. It needs to be prosecuted.
It does. But fat chance. Remember who the USAG is.
And the fifth column 'news' media won't call them out on it.
The mainstream media are just completely lame and meaningless now. They know this. But with people like Breitbart breaking all of the big stories, when will they learn that their ratings will go up as soon as they start to be journalists again?
This NEA spokeshole is liar.
Mr. Landesman's statement is condescending, defiant and an unacceptable insult to the intelligence. As for his four "facts," here's the response of this taxpayer to each:
Fact 1: That's not the whole story, is it? He claimed in the call to have been asked by the WH to bring these artists together (most of whom are NEA grant recipients) to turn their attention to aiding the WH with political issues. Your understatement is absurd.
Fact 2: Seeing as he was the Director of Communications for NEA and, presumably was conducting this business on company (so to speak) time, the assertion that he acted completely on his own is hard to accept. It's not as though he was some low-level clerical worker with an activist bent, he was your Director of Communications. Your assertion is laughable.
Fact 3: The call most certainly did attempt to promote a legislative agenda. Listen to the tape and explain the presence of the WH.
Fact 4: You bet the language was a problem. This employee–who, as you assert, was acting completely on his own, should be fired for such a foolish act that would bring such embarrassment to the NEA. As a taxpayer who finds this behavior odious, (and who pays his salary), I'd like to know to what duties he was "reassigned." Your obfuscation is insulting.
That the NEA would make this adversarial, defensive and frankly, untruthful response to this very real and troubling issue is disturbing at best. If this is the official response, I say it is time to closely scrutinize the NEA and reconsider its funding.
This is just more proof that we should defund the NEA, both of them. Just to start with, the governement didn't have any authority to create or run them in the first place.
"Those responsible have been sacked." "Those Responsible for Sacking the People Who Have Just Been Sacked, Have Been Sacked." Including the Majestic Moose.
Fact 3: This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false.
We heard the audio, moron. Do you know what solicit means?
This is just yet another attempt at subverting the media, just a different media. Who really didn't see this coming?
Remember this in 2010, and for the love of GOD vote this crap into the dustbin of history.
The best thing in the world would be 1/3 less (D)'s in congress, and 1/3 more (R)'s for the media to blame…
I'm hoping for change in 2012 too… make it 2/3rds…
Have you ever heard the age old saying "book smart but common sense stupid?" That is what the entire administration and all their cronies have forgotten about while carefully crafting their plan. They may have the Harvard and Yale degrees the rest of us do not, but unlike the rest of us they have never spent a day in the "real world" out there with the common man, exhibiting common sense. Now that they are up against it, they have no idea what to do about it, and the more they try to fix it the worse it gets for them. Keep digging your own grave Washington, we are watching and we ARE the ones with common sense.
Yosi Sargent is the latest 'friend' of Obama to discover that the wheels on the bus go ground and ground, ground and ground, ground and ground.
I'm just laughing because the Democartic party is showing it ture colors and letting itself be taken over by radicials and criminal enterprises…. Do they care – nope –
Talk about the sheeple …. They have to stand behind the letter D instead of the Constitution… Freaking amazing !!!!
This war and this president scares me… I think he is going to play politics at the cost of our soliders. Mr. President either send more or get the hell out!!!! Listen to your commanders.
Heh, heh, heh
) ! That's inconceivable!
This is called CYA
Phone call between White House Valarie Jarrett and this NEA appointee Rocco Landesman after they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar:
Jarrett: I can't believe ya'll were so stupid as to put this out over the phone to some who were not properly vetted as to if they could be trusted or not!
Rocco: Looks like we're going to have to let Sergent go. Maybe you can give him a job up in the White House or something. You know, we can say he is reassigned but give him a nice raise. He's just going to be to "hot" to keep him around. You know what Fox News will do with it.
Jarrett: The President wants to make sure Sergent is taken care of and still wants him to be in on all the planning and such. You'll just have to keep him out of the limelight. We'll send someone else down there to take his place figuratively and we'll keep Sergent up here for now.
Ah, I have not been bothered by any strain of liberal contagion for years, normal people build up a good immunity over time. Wish they would develop a vaccine though, maybe it could also treat the chronic cases.
Otherwise it will just be a big mess that can be readily taken care of with the two time-tested standard cleaning items, a bottle of bleach and a flamethrower.
I actually believe the President deserves credit where credit is due. I'm sorry, but my belief is that this kind of activity was conceived and put in place when the president hit the ground running.
The first leg of this far reaching agenda was put in place by passing the emergency Stimulus Bill partially written by the Apollo Alliance not our congress. In the Stimulus Bill organizations like the NEA were given money which was never intended to stimulate the economy but put in place to fund the presidential projects just like this. We the people, were not watching the ball. The
President now has the money to keep doing nefarious activities like this.
KEEP VIGILANT, PEOPLE.
Can we be frank? Leftists consider their ideology a religion. They will lie, cheat and stoop to any unethical means if it will further their agenda as the Church of the Left has no moral guidepost other than moving the agenda. They believe we will all be better off if we would support their agenda. And if we are too stupid to understand that then any means is OK to reach the end result (you know, like the radical Islamists). I am sure such tactics are planned as a strategy and the mistake Yosi and the bunch made was believing that artists (I've been one myself for 25 years so I know these people) are a block vote. They thought everyone on the call was a convert. And their tactics have not changed. They will just be more careful. The message has now been sent anyway.
To paraphrase Richard Pryor- "Who you gonna believe- me or your lyin' ears?"
Someone (somebody help me out here) once said, "You have a right to your own opinion, but you do not have a right to your own facts."
If *art* has too little real value to sustain the artist, it's not art, it's doodling. Taxpayers should NEVER have to pay for someone's doodling. End all taxpayer funding and let the worthy programs (and there are many) go to the community for help. If it's truly worthy, they'll get it.
Who would have guessed "Obama" could displace "Clinton" so quickly. Dude has mad skills…
This is no different than ACORN firing recent employees without digging in to find the supervisors and leaders who had to have taught them at some point. Easy equation: NEA gets funding (free money) from our taxes. They're always going to help and lean to the left and far left. Done.
Oh cmon everyone don't you know that firing the one very bad guy will make everything all right? Unfortunately, for this guy and all the others we are not the sheep they thought we were, I live in Chicago and they play this crap all the time. I tried to warn my friends in other states about Obama and his commie machine but no one listened. Now we have Chicago sewer politics in the White House with Valerie Jarrett, Van Jones, Buffy Wicks, and Michelle and Barack Obama. It is so bad here in Chicago that the Cook County Board President with only a 10% approval rating states he will run and win. How do you think he will do that? Chicago politics.
maybe the Village People will get a grant for a new version of their classic, YMCA, and the lefties can all dance to it.
Which is exactly what the new media, like BH and Big Government, are doing now!
The old media is dead. Long live the new media. Power to We The People!
Rocco: YOU LIE!
You gonna believe me or your lying ears, dummy?
Mr. Landesman: YOU LIE!
Just another example of the allies of the statists "apologizing" and "taking action" only after they have been caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar, then attempting to "move on" by some token firing.
Anyone arrested and charged with a crime? Why not?
I don't think they consider "stupid" or not. They simply follow their agenda, speak however they want and do it very obviously, because they do not care what anyone thinks. Guess what, they keep getting away with it so they figure why hide? It will continue until they get voted out because no one, of any stature, will call them out and then follow up and expose them for what they are. Where are the opposition leaders in Congress, the media or, more importantly, the courts? Val Jones was "re-assigned" too. Don't ever think he was not protected by the regime.
Rocco -Chairman of the National Endowment for the bullshit arts.
Very well said, this taxpayer agrees but I'd like to take it a step further. Stop ALL funding of this "organization". They have abused their priviledges and need to pay the consequences. I know if I were to do something embarassing and illegal while on the clock at my job I'd be in the unemployment line. Why is this Sargent person still allowed to take our money??
Great point. As for being "reassigned" that could mean something as simple being given an new title. They honestly do think we are idiots. Just look at how many liberals call anyone without a college education "uneducated". At least when they are referring to conservatives. Meanwhile many of them continue to talk in text mode ignoring capital letters and punctuation while insulting the intelligence of others.
Whenever liberals begin a statement with the word "FACT", you can practically guarantee it will be a lie.
"Fact 3: This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false. Rather, the call was to inform members of the arts community of an opportunity to become involved in volunteerism."
Classic Obama-ism: I say it is so and therefore it is so. I call BS on this whole thing. Disband the NEA now!
I just love the contemptuous attitude of people where they can "release" their press statements and think that we should all just subjugate to it and be done with it. ………… Americans will not be bullied, we'll do as we damn please and if that means continuing the investigation of this trash, we'll do it! Who the F*ck! do these people think they are! THEY SERVE AT THE PLEASURE AND FINANCIAL GENEROSITY OF THE AMERICAN TAX PAYERS! THE ARROGANCE IS BREATHTAKING!
Just the latest example of radical liberal propaganda coming from this White House.
Visit http://www.handsoffamerica.net to join a new online conservative movement
The facts are not facts….
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