NEWLY REVEALED DOCUMENTS Contradict NEA Chairman Landesman

“The former NEA Director of Communications acted unilaterally and without the approval or authorization of then-Acting Chairman Patrice Walker Powell.” – Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, on September 22, 2009

Chairman Landesman’s claim that Yosi Sergant, the former NEA Communications Director, acted “unilaterally” on the controversial August 10th conference call is not only beginning to erode, but new documents obtained by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of Information Act show that another federal employee thought the arts effort was entering murky legal waters.

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In an email dated July 30, 2009, Nellie Abernathy, a representative of the federal program United We Serve, sent an email to Sergant to inquire of his interest in attending a meeting regarding 9/11 events – the culmination day of the United We Serve campaign. In the email Abernathy states (emphasis added):

“Just got off the phone with [redacted]. They’re interested in helping produce some 9/11 events and will be in DC next week. Any chance you could join us for a meeting Tuesday morning? Or does this fall into that sketchy grey we might get arrested area?”

Sergant responded, “I’d love to.” (more…)

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Tags: Buffy Wicks, national endowment for the arts, nea, Nell Abernathy, rocco landesman
Posted Nov 12th 2009 at 5:03 am in Art, Featured Story, Politics | 261522192 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/11/12/newly-released-emails-appear-to-contradict-nea-chair-landesmans-statement/NEWLY+REVEALED+DOCUMENTS+Contradict+NEA+Chairman+Landesman2009-11-12+13%3A03%3A19Patrick+Courrielche

Big Hollywood Report Card: NEA Chairman Landesman’s First 12 Weeks

When Broadway Producer/Theatre Owner Rocco Landesman took the reins of the National Endowment of the Arts last August, he told the NY Times:

“I wouldn’t have come to the N.E.A. if it was just about padding around in the agency,” he said, and worrying about which nonprofits deserve more funds. “We need to have a seat at the big table with the grown-ups. Art should be part of the plans to come out of this recession.  If we’re going to have any traction at all, there has to be a place for us in domestic policy.”

An odd assertion considering the job description of the role he’s filling at this non-partisan, independent, government agency is, basically to “Worry about which nonprofits deserve more funds“.  Seriously, that’s the job, always has been.  And when one reads the original legislation creating the agency Landesman now runs, there is nothing to be found about being a part of domestic policy.  But, the same party who can read “Promote the General Welfare” in our Constitution and re-interpret it to mean that Barbara Boxer can decide which doctor I can visit, can easily over-reach with the NEA legislation too, I suppose. (more…)

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Tags: health care, nea, Obama, rocco landesman, Yosi Sergant
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 9:12 am in Art, Politics | 25617017 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/11/02/a-big-hollywood-report-card-nea-chairman-landesmans-first-12-weeks/Big+Hollywood+Report+Card%3A+NEA+Chairman+Landesman%27s+First+12+Weeks2009-11-02+16%3A12%3A36Stage+Right

NEA Chair Rocco Landesman Mocks Critics

About ten days ago, in a widely ridiculed address to the 2009 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference – so widely ridiculed he had to walk his Obama-Caesar gushing back some – embattled NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman took a moment to launch a shot at his critics:

Am I starting to sound like an advocate? Well, that seems to be a touchy subject. Some quote-unquote “journalists” have recently accused this agency of losing its independence and becoming a propaganda machine.

Ooh, ouch, that stings: “quote-unquote journalists.” I would have responded sooner but the insult went over my head. You see, in the world where I reside — the land of Where Decent People Try To Do The Right Thing –  accusing someone of “not being a real journalist” is like accusing them of “not being a dishonest left-wing poseur with more affectations than a washed-up Shakespearean stage actor.”

But what a punk thing for Landesman to do; acting like the big mouth kid who after a well-deserved playground thumping runs home to talk big in front his fat, fawning Aunts. Gee, Rocco, if you and yours hold so much contempt for your critics, why respond to their criticisms in such dramatic ways: (more…)

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Tags: Caesar, Culture Future, Lee Rosenbaum, nea, Obama
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 at 6:43 am in Art, Politics | 25637035 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/11/02/nea-chair-rocco-landesman-mocks-critics/NEA+Chair+Rocco+Landesman+Mocks+Critics2009-11-02+13%3A43%3A32John+Nolte

Jonah Goldberg: NEA Chair Kowtows to His Caesar

By demonstrating with brazenly self-abasing ignorance that he is wholly Obama’s man, Landesman is making it clear that the NEA is completely committed to Obamaism.

NEA Chair Rocco Landesman

Jonah Goldberg in today’s National Review:

“Last week, Landesman gave the keynote address to the 2009 Grantmakers in the Arts Conference. In fairness, Landesman did not reaffirm the White House and NEA’s obvious initial intent to turn the allegedly independent government agency into an adjunct of Obama’s “Organizing for America” operation. He was more subtle than that.

“Instead, Landesman embraced a timeless tactic of power politics. He debased himself with incandescently vulgar obsequiousness to his supreme leader. “There is a new president and a new NEA,” he proclaimed. “This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln. If you accept the premise, and I do, that the United States is the most powerful country in the world, then Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar. That has to be good for American artists.” (more…)

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Tags: Caesar, Jonah Goldberg, National review, nea, Obama
Posted Oct 30th 2009 at 9:53 am in Art, Politics | 25559848 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/10/30/jonah-goldberg-nea-chair-kowtows-to-his-caesar/Jonah+Goldberg%3A+NEA+Chair+Kowtows+to+His+Caesar2009-10-30+16%3A53%3A23Big+Hollywood

I Want My NEA Grant!

Chairman Rocco Landesman
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA),  Washington, D.C.

Dear Chairman Landesman:

With all this fuss on Big Hollywood.com, Big Government.com and elsewhere over the NEA’s government-funded forays into partisan political propaganda, I thought maybe we could help each other out. 

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Right now, you probably want to support some art that addresses vital current issues from a right-wing perspective in order to demonstrate your impartiality (ha ha!), and I just want to cash in your organization’s evident willingness to spend good tax money on any kind of nonsense that can be passed-off as “art” (ca-ching!)   

Well, I am uniquely suited to provide you with just what you’re looking for!  As a college student, I got a “B” in my Visual Arts 1 class for dressing up a juniper bush in one of my Hawaiian shirts to draw attention to man’s essential oneness with nature while providing a stinging critique of America’s consumerist culture.  Sure, my black-clad, Bauhaus-loving classmates protested that I was a fraud who was more concerned with collecting four easy credits than internalizing our professor’s commie insights about how expressionism equals imperialism, but hey – aren’t all great artists rebels?   Or, at least, weren’t they before last January 20th? (more…)

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Tags: Andres Serrano, Bauhaus, biggovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, healthcare reform
Posted Oct 16th 2009 at 8:23 am in Art, Politics | 24274218 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/10/16/i-want-my-nea-grant/I+Want+My+NEA+Grant%212009-10-16+15%3A23%3A43Kurt+Schlichter

Open Letter to Congress Regarding NEA Chairman’s Statement

I’m writing in regards to Chairman Landesman’s response to Senator Enzi’s National Endowment for the Arts inquiry (below). I want to first thank Senator Enzi and the other Senators for taking the time to compose the inquiry. I also want to thank Senator Cornyn for his early inquiry on the August 10th conference call.

NEA_Statement –

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Although I appreciate Chairman Landesman’s actions in adding additional safeguards to protect the integrity of the NEA mission, I thought you should be aware of some of the details not mentioned in his response.

Chairman Landesman made no mention of a NEA grantee, Americans for the Arts, which was on the August 10th conference call and within 2 days of the meeting sent out a press release, endorsed by 16 other NEA grantees, urging Congress to pass legislation creating universal health care. That fact was first reported by the Washington Times. (more…)

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Tags: nea, rocco landesman, Senator Enzi, White House
Posted Oct 5th 2009 at 12:35 pm in Art, Politics | 24070626 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/10/05/open-letter-to-congress-regarding-nea-chairmans-statement/Open+Letter+to+Congress+Regarding+NEA+Chairman%27s+Statement2009-10-05+19%3A35%3A12Patrick+Courrielche

The Big Truth: Selling White House Policy Through Art

A few days ago I received a call from my cousin. He’d been hearing some chatter from the family about something happening with a series of NEA articles that I’d written for Big Hollywood and wanted to find out from the horse’s mouth what was going on. His question was simple and concise.

“What did the White House do wrong?” he asked.

“The White House attempted to use federal agencies for political gain,” I blurted out.

President Obama with former NEA Communications Director Yosi Sergant

And that is The Big Truth in a nutshell. A moment of clarity hit me, and as with most eureka moments, a path of how to explain this big truth came into sight. The full story needed to be told – including possible collusion, the White House’s novel mode of operation, and the eventual cover-up – to fully understand and illuminate the government’s intention with their arts effort.

Up until now, I have not discussed Sergant’s former job in the White House Office of Public Engagement, where Buffy Wicks currently resides, because the story had to develop to understand the significance. I also haven’t discussed the email that I received from Michael Skolnik, the moderator of the call, immediately after the publication of the original conference call article – an email that attempted to revise history and the role of the NEA and the White House in the meeting. And what has yet to be discussed is the White House’s recent ability to set up an ArtistCorps, brought into existence with less than 20 words in the Serve America Act. (more…)

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Tags: Buffy Wicks, Michael Skolnik, nea, Nell Abernathy, Obama
Posted Oct 5th 2009 at 12:34 pm in Art, Featured Story, Politics | 24014674 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/10/05/the-big-truth-selling-white-house-policy-through-art/The+Big+Truth%3A+Selling+White+House+Policy+Through+Art2009-10-05+19%3A34%3A16Patrick+Courrielche

Wash Times: White House, NEA Stonewall About Scandal

A full investigation by both Congress and the NEA inspector general is the only way to bring this story to a close.

Today’s Washington Times:

The facts are simple and public. During the transition, President Obama’s top arts adviser made it clear that his ambition was for the arts to become an integral part of the West Wing. After the inauguration, meetings of artists and political activists at the White House explicitly discussed how to keep the arts community in campaign mode to back Mr. Obama’s legislative agenda. An NEA grants official, Mario Garcia Durham, was at one such meeting for which the attendee list is public.

President Obama with Yosi Sergant

As those meetings occurred, Yosi Sergant, a key cog in the Obama campaign’s outreach to artists, was transferred from a position at the White House to a position as the communications director of the NEA. When the grant spigots opened at the NEA, more than $2 million went directly into the coffers of arts organizations (and their members) attending these meetings and publicly backing elements of the administration agenda. (more…)

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Tags: nea, Obama, President Obama, rocco landesman, Yose Sergant
Posted Sep 27th 2009 at 7:40 am in Art, Politics | 23650619 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/27/wash-times-white-house-and-nea-stonewall-about-scandal/Wash+Times%3A+White+House%2C+NEA+Stonewall+About+Scandal2009-09-27+14%3A40%3A15Big+Hollywood

RESPONSE TO NEA CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT: Throwing Yosi Sergant Under the Bus Isn’t an Answer

“Senate confirmed my boss today…and we’re off!” — As posted by Yosi Sergant on Twitter August 7th. 

Those were the words of the former Communications Director of the National Endowment for the Arts three days before the conference call. However Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in a recent statement declared that Yosi Sergant acted “unilaterally and without the approval or authorization” from his superior.

NEA Chair Rocco Landesman 

Taking the Chairman’s statement at face value and moving on would be the easy thing to do. However, the details of the Chairman’s statement need to be addressed. 

First, if the former Communications Director “acted unilaterally and without approval or authorization” from his superior, why is he still working for the NEA? Wouldn’t an act as rogue as bringing together a pro-Obama arts group and encouraging them to create art on health care have triggered an immediate dismissal if it was actually without authorization?  (more…)

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Tags: Buffy Wicks, Kalpen Modi, nea, rocco landesman, White House
Posted Sep 24th 2009 at 10:53 am in Art, Featured Story, Politics | 23479066 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/09/24/response-to-nea-chairmans-statement-throwing-yosi-sergant-under-the-bus-isnt-an-answer/RESPONSE+TO+NEA+CHAIRMAN%27S+STATEMENT%3A+Throwing+Yosi+Sergant+Under+the+Bus+Isn%27t+an+Answer2009-09-24+17%3A53%3A57Patrick+Courrielche

NEA Call Not Meant to ‘Promote Any Legislative Agenda’?

Rocco Landesman

Reiterating the NEA’s denial about the purpose of the notorious August 10, 2009 teleconference, Chairman Rocco Landesman doubled-down Tuesday:

 “Fact 3: ‘This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false.”

Two weeks ago, the NEA’s initial denial stated:

“This call was not a means to promote any legislative agenda and any suggestions to that end are simply false.“

 The White House issued its denial on September 9:  (more…)

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Tags: Buffy Wicks, conference call, nea, rocco landesman, White House
Posted Sep 24th 2009 at 8:08 am in Art, Politics | 23461460 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/abaldwin/2009/09/24/nea-call-not-meant-to-promote-any-legislative-agenda/NEA+Call+Not+Meant+to+%27Promote+Any+Legislative+Agenda%27%3F2009-09-24+15%3A08%3A40Adam+Baldwin

NRO: Statement From NEA Chairman a ‘Schoolboy’ Defense

Lynne Munson, former Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, writes at the Corner:

NEA chairman Rocco Landesman, who was confirmed by the Senate on August 7 and began serving the day after his agency organized its now-infamous conference call, may be an excellent Broadway producer. But he’s still struggling to find his voice as a public servant.

Rocco Landesman

As evidence, let me cite his statement on the conference-call matter, issued yesterday. For readers who might be jumping into this discussion for the first time: This call, organized and participated in by the NEA using agency (in other words “taxpayer”) resources, asked some 75 artists to use their talents to promote a huge portion of President Obama’s domestic agenda. Two days later, 21 arts organizations endorsed Obama’s health-care plan. According to the Washington Times, those groups received $2 million in NEA grants during the four months leading up to the call.

(more…)

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Tags: Lynne Munson, nea, rocco landesman, Senate, Washington Times
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 at 8:26 pm in Art, Politics | 23438627 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/23/nro-statement-from-nea-chairman-a-schoolboy-defense/NRO%3A+Statement+From+NEA+Chairman+a+%27Schoolboy%27+Defense2009-09-24+03%3A26%3A29Big+Hollywood

BREAKING: GOP Senators Request Explanation From NEA Chairman Regarding Possible Violations of Federal Law

Press release from U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee:

Enzi Leads GOP HELP Committee Inquiry
Into Alleged NEA Political Activity

 WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today led his fellow Republican HELP Committee members in requesting an explanation regarding possible violations of federal law at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).  Enzi and his colleagues sent the request to NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. 

In the letter delivered today the Senators questioned the possibility of “taxpayer dollars to engage in lobbying activities to promote the President’s health care legislative agenda and other legislative priorities” during several August conference calls with NEA grant recipients and community stakeholders.

The letter also raises serious questions regarding how the NEA’s participation in these calls may have violated federal criminal restrictions on lobbying Congress, the Hatch Act, appropriations restrictions on spending funds for such purposes and possible contradictions with the entity’s mission under its authorizing statute.

“…The promotion to NEA grant recipients of topics that are at the top of the President’s legislative agenda and urging a call to action creates a serious conflict of interest,” wrote the Senators.

The full text of the letter to Landesman is below: (more…)

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Tags: education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, nea, rocco landesman, Senate
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 at 3:02 pm in Art, Featured Story, Political Humor | 23389454 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/23/breaking-gop-senators-request-explanation-from-nea-chairman-regarding-possible-violations-of-federal-law/BREAKING%3A+GOP+Senators+Request+Explanation+From+NEA+Chairman+Regarding+Possible+Violations+of+Federal+Law2009-09-23+22%3A02%3A56Big+Hollywood

The NEA: More Than Just A Little ‘Gay’

Last month, National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman said that, in American politics, ”the arts are a little bit of a target.  The subtext is that it is elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay.”

Well, the NEA has certainly earned that reputation these past few weeks.  Just like the LGBT community, the NEA – which purports to help struggling artists of all kinds - is following in lockstep with The One, regardless of whether it’s good for artistic expression, free speech, or real people.

Last fall, I was amazed at how many folks in the gay community let themselves believe that getting Obama elected would be the magical first step towards achieving “equality” – at least in terms of appropriating the word “marriage” - despite the fact that He had already stated clearly that He is against gay marriage.

And no one seemed to care (much less recall) that, in 2007, The One had told CNN that building a consensus for gay marriage would be “difficult and distracting” – you know, like the Iraq war?  (Or gnats.) (more…)

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Tags: 'Health Care Reform, Andres Serrano, Art, Bobby Jindal, Chris Ofili
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 3:33 pm in Art, Politics | 22802273 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cwinecoff/2009/09/22/the-nea-more-than-just-a-little-gay/The+NEA%3A+More+Than+Just+A+Little+%27Gay%272009-09-22+22%3A33%3A06Charles+Winecoff

BREAKING: NEA Chairman Addresses Aug 10 Conf. Call

The former NEA Director of Communications acted unilaterally and without the approval or authorization of then-Acting Chairman Patrice Walker Powell.

Washington Times:

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. (more…)

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Tags: nea, rocco landesman, Yosi Sergant
Posted Sep 22nd 2009 at 2:55 pm in Art, Politics | 233270110 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/22/breaking-nea-chairman-addresses-aug-10-conf-call/BREAKING%3A+NEA+Chairman+Addresses+Aug+10+Conf.+Call+2009-09-22+21%3A55%3A51Big+Hollywood

Wash Times: NEA Crossed Line From Persuasion to Coercion

Washington Times Editorial:

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Rocco Landesman owes American taxpayers an explanation.

Last month, a top NEA official gathered artists and arts organizations in a conference call that also included a White House official and clearly asked the arts community to get behind the administration’s agenda, including the current top priority, health care. A mere 48 hours after the request, 21 art organizations led by an arts lobbying organization, Americans for the Arts, released the first of two public statements endorsing health care reform and urging Congress to act.

Rocco Landesman

Such a meeting would be disturbing enough — a grant-maker backed by the White House asking grant recipients to support the administration agenda crosses the line from persuasion to coercion. Artists and arts groups that want funding from the NEA to continue cannot help but feel pressure to comply with the administration’s wishes. That alone is wrong.

Health reform backers get seven-figure grants

However, when you add in the nearly $2 million the NEA handed out to those very arts organizations in the four months before the conference call — including more than $1 million in stimulus funds — it is time to start wondering whether a line has been crossed from merely unethical into the land of special prosecutors. Such an investigation might be the only way to get straight answers. (more…)

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Tags: nea, rocco landesman, White House, Yosi Sergant
Posted Sep 15th 2009 at 9:49 am in Art, Politics | 22543032 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/15/wash-times-nea-crossed-line-from-persuasion-to-coercion/Wash+Times%3A+NEA+Crossed+Line+From+Persuasion+to+Coercion2009-09-15+16%3A49%3A37Big+Hollywood

Obama’s NEA Chair Is a Broadway Baby

So Rocco Landesman is the new chairman of the NEA. The gregarious and outspoken producer and theatre executive has long been known for his bold risk-taking, his penchant for publicity and his leftward lean.

As it is no big surprise that the Obama administration would select a liberal to head up the endowment, the fact is it could have been a lot worse. And, his first interview with the NY Times (natch) he spoke of the arts as an economic engine and how he will implement his new “Our Town” program which would subsidize artists and institutions when they move into a downtown area:

“When you bring artists into a town, it changes the character, attracts economic development, makes it more attractive to live in and renews the economics of that town,” he said. “There are ways to draw artists into the center of things that will attract other people.”

If you close your eyes you can almost hear Jack Kemp cheering this supply-sider on! (more…)

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Tags: nea, NY Times, Obama, rocco landesman
Posted Aug 17th 2009 at 6:23 pm in Culture, Politics | 20571822 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/08/17/obamas-nea-chair-is-a-broadway-baby/Obama%27s+NEA+Chair+Is+a+Broadway+Baby2009-08-18+01%3A23%3A54Stage+Right