—–

Yes, Yosi’s still out there working to make the world a progressive paradise, but that’s cool because it’s not on our dime. Good on ya, Yosi. We conservative types like the First Amendment. 

Don’t know what I’m talking about, my friends? Go here, here, and here . 

But this song isn’t just about Yosi Sergant. It’s also an ode to Mr. Patrick Courrielche, a very brave man 

Shortly after the song “Yosi Needs a Hug” debuted on The Stage Right Show, I had a couple of opportunities to hang out with Patrick and it proved to me, once again, that the Left doesn’t get us. They have no idea who we Conservatives are or what we’re all about. But the silver lining is they have no idea what’s coming. 

Speaking of what’s coming, watch Big Hollywood for the video premiere of “See You In November.” 

In the meantime sit back and enjoy “Yosi Needs A Hug.” Directed by Michael Broderick and featuring Gary Eaton’s face. Although “Yosi” started as a test in preparation for the upcoming, larger scale “See You in November” shoot, the video has turned out quite nicely, we think. Special thanks to Glen Hombre who lent his considerable talents to the project and even took the time to spin Michael up on Final Cut.

To download this song and others for free, visit our, The Army You Have. All donations to the tip jar go directly to Operation Mend.

See you in November,
TAYH

The article, riddled with factual errors and omissions characteristic of a student and/or mainstream media, lays out a revisionist’s version of what happened behind the scenes of the scandal. During the interview, conducted by a journalism graduate student and admitted “close friend” of the former White House appointee, Sergant states that he was called to a meeting in the West Wing at the end of his four-month stint in the White House’s Office of Public Engagement. The White House, fully aware of his role as an art activist during Obama’s election campaign, offered Sergant two jobs. One was to continue at the White House, and the other was as the Communications Director of the National Endowment for the Arts. Sergant selected the NEA.

President Obama and Yosi Sergant

“I think [the West Wing] made a bad decision to put me in a job without giving me any kind of guidance, not providing me with any kind of mentorship,” said Sergant in the interview. He continued, “That was a bad decision. I’d never worked in government before.”

However the White House knew where Sergant’s expertise resided, and how he would potentially put it to use in an arts position. He was the promoter behind the now famous Obama Hope poster. Sergant indicated in the interview that he was given some direction by the White House in his new position at the NEA. “The idea was that Yosi would help pave the way for the new director’s arrival,” wrote Hillel Aron, referring to Rocco Landesman, incoming Chairman of the NEA. On paving the way, Sergant said, “I started working on things that I knew were happening, that I thought would be safe… and I was wrong.” 

And, frankly, why wouldn’t he have thought it to be safe – he was working with the White House at the time. The project that Sergant was referring to was United We Serve, a national service initiative orchestrated by the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Corporation for National and Community Service. Among the many controversial comments during the call, Sergant stated, “I would encourage you to pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment, you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service. And then my ask would be to apply artistic, you know, your artistic creative communities utilities and bring them to the table.”

It was this encouragement, at a time when town halls had gone nuclear over the issue of health care, which ultimately put Sergant in hot water.

Following a statement made in my first article regarding the invite coming from the NEA, the Washington Times reported that Sergant claimed he did not send out the invite. After revealing that the invite I received was in fact sent directly from Sergant, on September 1st the Washington Times published an article entitled “Official Dishonesty.” Aron reports that Sergant called the White House the next day asking if he should resign. Sergant stated, “They did not think that what I did merited the response of the media.”

However, at the time Sergant contacted the White House, they were unaware of exactly what the conference call revealed about their arts effort. In an email marked “Importance: High” and sent on September 11^th, Kalpen Modi, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, asked, “Do either of you have a recording or transcript of the CNCS call you did with Yosi & NEA on 8/10.” The response from two federal officials at the Corporation was that they did not have a transcript or a recording of the call:

The full transcript was released on September 21st, revealing controversial conduct by not only Yosi Sergant, but Buffy Wicks, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Engagement, and Nell Abernathy of the Corporation for National and Community Service. In reaction to the conduct on the call, including comments I highlighted by a White House employee Buffy Wicks, the following day the administration backpedaled from an earlier claim that I had “misconstrued the purpose” of the call. The administration issued new guidelines, as reported by ABC News’ Jake Tapper, “to prevent such a call from ever happening again.” The memo, written by White House Counsel Gregory Craig, provided new guidelines to all federal agencies for public outreach meetings. “We regret any comments on the call that may have been misunderstood or troubled other participants,” said White House spokesman Bill Burton in an issued statement. “We are fully committed to the NEA’s historic mission, and we will take all steps necessary to ensure that there is no further cause for questions or concerns about that commitment.” This White House statement appeared to concede that the effort was outside of the NEA’s original purpose.

To date, Buffy Wicks and Nell Abernathy still remain in their positions while Sergant has been left with Michelin stains.

Sergant seems to disagree with the White House’s actions. “I don’t believe that what I did was wrong,” Sergant stated in his interview with Aron. “I believe that what I did came at a time when all the focus was on health care reform, and [that's] where they needed to put their time and energy… could they have stood up for me if they wanted to? Sure. Am I worth the political capital? They had just lost Van Jones.”

Why would Sergant feel as if he did something wrong – he was in fact working with the White House on this arts effort.

Writer Hillel Aron and Yosi Sergant

The writer and Sergant claim that there was no political advocacy on the call. However, both the NEA and the White House have released separate statements stating that some of the language was “not appropriate” and admitting that there were “appearance issues,” respectively. During the interview Sergant stated that he never mentioned “Public Option” in his encouragement, but rather offered “blood drive” posters as an example of the type of art that he hoped would come out of the meeting. But that does not pass the smell test for what actually happened. The example that Sergant and the other federal employees highlighted during the conference call was a Rock the Vote project designed to “engage young people, in particular, on the issue of a new environmental movement.” Given that the call participants were avid Obama supporters, the art that came out of the meeting was, unsurprisingly, highly political in nature – a fact that cannot be changed by a friend attempting to rewrite history. Also omitted from the story was the fact that after resigning, one of the first projects Sergant worked on with another activist call participant was called “Public Option Please” that attacked Joe Lieberman’s wife in hopes of getting his vote for the senate’s version of health care reform.

The writer also claims that Sergant “simply copy / pasted the text from a United We Serve e-mail.” However FOIA documents clearly show that Sergant helped develop and edit the invite with Nell Abernathy, a fact that Aron’s graduate journalism professors may like to know if he is being graded on accuracy. If Aron’s article was written for his fiction professors, I retract this criticism.

I’ve stated throughout my articles that the White House was ultimately to blame for this controversial arts effort. The administration was fully aware of Sergant’s activist affinity and placed him in a position to put that skill to work. Unfortunately, political activity at a federal agency, indirectly or otherwise, is prohibited. The fact that the NEA and the White House threw Sergant under the bus is not a fact lost on the person left smelling like rubber.  When asked by Aron if he thought someone from the White House was going to stick up for him, Sergant responded, “I knew they wouldn’t.”

It would appear through these new statements, Mr. Sergant, in part, agrees with me that the White House has mud on their hands – albeit for different reasons. The only question left for Sergant is, how much longer will he let the White House affect his integrity and blame him for actions he was appointed to perform.

A senior official at the National Endowment for the Arts encouraged artists to promote President Obama’s political agenda in a conference call he organized with the White House. The NEA’s communications director Yosi Sergant eventually resigned in August amid accusations that the grant-making organization was becoming politicized. The administration called it a “teaching moment,” but the media didn’t seem to catch the lesson.

Read the full list here.

The most linked-to and referenced defense came from Ben Davis at the well-respected artnet Magazine.  After spending many paragraphs attacking Patrick and questioning the nefarious motives behind his unforgiveable act of betrayal (I’m not referring to Patrick recording the conference call, the real betrayal was Patrick appearing on “The Glenn Beck Show”), Davis goes on to repeat the Obama talking point:

This notorious conference call, in other words, was essentially a pitch for artists to make glorified PSAs about volunteer work. As far as I can tell, the truth is exactly the opposite of the ominous attempt to yoke artists to the Obama Agenda that critics suggest; if anything, the call was an effort to take the inspiration for radical change that led many creative types to vote for Obama and channel it into low-level, local activism.

This article has been rallied behind and taken as the final word on the subject as far as the left-wing blog world is concerned.  Only problem:  it’s spin and obfuscation.  First, through the Freedom of Information aAct, Courrielche further proved that artists responded to the call with tangible, policy-oriented ideas that went way beyond a call for volunteer work.

And now, after four months, we see some real, tangible propaganda.  Enter Justin Kemerling.

Earlier this week Big Hollywood exposed the tangled web of left-wing blogs and political agitation groups controlled by Hollywood producer Jane Hamsher.  ”Hollywood” Jane Hamsher used her considerable clout within the Hollywood Left mafia family to pressure celebs from supporting Susan G. Komen for the cure as long as they continue to retain Hadassah Lieberman (or, I suppose for as long as Haddasah retains Sen. Joe Lieberman as her husband).

While investigating one of Hamsher’s many left-wing confrontation pages, Public Option Please, we discovered that people who donate to the cause and become members of the movement receive free art work (a button or a poster) designed by pop artist, Justin Kemerling.

Kemerling was on the conference call that day with Patrick Courrielche.  He heard the same things Patrick heard.  Within weeks of the call, he designed this neat little button for Hamsher’s Public Option Please campaign:

He also designed this poster for Hamsher:

And these stickers:

I know that our friends from the left in the art world recoil and get defensive when accused of creating propaganda, but look at these designs…. What would YOU call them?  Propaganda is a form of communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. Seriously, what do YOU call this stuff?

Kemerling created propaganda.  He created the propaganda exactly the way the NEA and White House requested him to on the August 10^th conference call.  “Public Option Please” was launched on October 8^th, so the propaganda Kemmerling made was done about a month after the NEA and White House told him to.

So Kemerling is a left-wing artist located in Nebraska and Hamsher is a Hollywood Producer/Activist now located in Virginia.  How do these two star-crossed lefties hook up to create the “Propoganda Opportunity”?

Enter Yosi Sergant.

Remember Yosi?  After he took the fall for the NEA conference call (even though it was really pushed by the White House Office of Public Engagement, right Yosi?  Come on, you can tell us…) Yosi laid low for a while.  We hadn’t heard from him or about where he ended up employed.  And then, we saw this article in the Washington Post announcing an art contest for Jane Hamsher’s Public Option Please.  (BTW:  Notice how the winning artistic design put a symbolic heart of our country right smack in the middle of Washington DC?  These people really do think that Government is the heart of our country).

At the end of the article Hamsher reveals a key fact:

You can vote for your favorite on the group’s Web site, though the winner will be picked by a panel of judges including Arianna Huffington, Margaret Cho and Jesse Dylan.  Hey, why not Yosi Sergant (the publicist behind “Hope,” who resigned his NEA job after a conference call in which he exhorted artists to support the Obama agenda)?   “He’s been advising us,” Hamsher said.

Well there you go.  Looks like Yosi landed on his feet and scored a cool little consulting gig for the woman who promulgated a picture of Joe Lieberman in “Sambo Blackface” and is shaming Hollywood celebs into dropping their support for a breast cancer charity until the charity dumps Hadassah Lieberman.

So let’s connect a few dots, shall we?  Yosi knows Kemerling.  Yosi coordinates a conference call that Kemerling is on.  As Director of Communications for the National Endowmant for the Arts, Yosi encourages Kemerling to ”pick something, whether it’s health care, education, the environment, you know, there’s four key areas that the corporation has identified as the areas of service… And then my ask would be to apply artistic, you know, your artistic creative communities utilities and bring them to the table.”  Within weeks of Yosi’s “resignation” Hamsher launches Public Option Now and focuses the fundraising campaign around Kemerling’s art.

Many will contend that there is no link between the conference call and this propaganda.  And that Kemmerling has a history of supporting left-wing causes through his art; he would have done these posters without White House encouragement.  Those who hold this position are probably right, actually.  But the fact that I can so easily reach the conclusion that Kemerling was motivated and inspired by Yosi Sergant and Buffy Wicks call to action is exactly the reason why the conference calls and the policy behind them should never have been made.  And, it is exactly the reason why Yosi Sergant no longer works for the NEA.

I would love to hear Ben Davis’ honest reaction to this article.  I wonder if he would honestly and openly re-visit the subject and if he would be tolerant enough to recognize that there are many people (many, Ben) in the art world who disagree with him on this subject and just about every social and political view that he holds.  I doubt it, given this passage from the same article:

Of course, there are all types in the art world, but in general, it is a cosmopolitan group; urban, educated and tolerant. Not really the Sarah Palin crowd. You have to defend the art world’s right to be what it is.

Yeah, that’s some impressive tolerance on display, Ben.  Aren’t you even a little bit hesitant to speak for the entire art world in such a way?  Can you find any room in your oh-so-tolerant world view to grasp the idea that you have many colleagues who actually like and respect Sarah Palin, but because of your totalitarian methods of politically correct manipulation of thought, they would never tell you?  Isn’t it possible, given your refusal to acknowledge the obvious reasons why Sergant was fired and your ability to call Sarah Palin supporters (about half of our country) as the antithesis of tolerant, educated and cosmopolitan, that YOU Mr. Davis are the intolerant, un-educated, parochial, mind-numbed, knee-jerk reactionary?

Subtlety is necessary if a federal agency intends to incite activists to take action on the hot issues of the moment. This approach is what we see when we look at the most recent documents acquired by a Freedom of Information Act  (FOIA) request of the controversial August 10th conference call.

President Obama with Former NEA Communication Director Yosi Sergant

Readers of Big Hollywood may recall an article published in late August entitled “National Endowment for the Art of Persuasion?” that described an August 10th conference call organized by the White House, the NEA, and the Corporation for National and Community Service. As stated during the conference call, the goal was to bring together a group of pro-Obama artists to push the President and his agenda, with United We Serve as the first proposed effort. During the call, Yosi Sergant, then Communications Director for the NEA, encouraged artists to create art on the vehemently debated issues of health care, energy, and the environment. 

In the newly obtained documents, Nell Abernathy, a representative of The Corporation, is shown providing the handpicked moderator a list of “concrete asks” to be emailed to the call participants following the conference call. The first concrete ask in the document [document 1] included volunteering on issues that were closely related to legislation being vehemently debated nationally:

“Serve in your community. You are probably already working to improve health care or green a neighborhood. Reach out to friends, colleagues and fans to serve with you. Ask five to pledge to serve with you.”  

Health Care Reform and Cap-and-Trade legislation were both being intensely debated in Congress in August, causing town hall meetings at the time to go nuclear over the proposed health-care legislation. Democrats were widely viewed as losing the debate. Asking a stacked group of pro-Obama art activists to address these issues could only lead to policy advocacy – and it did, as we have shown (here & here).

The new documents also show that other efforts were underway. In response [document 2] to the “concrete asks” document, an artist that participated in the call sent the following (emphasis added):

“We’ve been doing a lot of brainstorming about how we can add our skillset to this effort, and here are some of our thoughts…Making prints that subtly encourage the progressive agenda. Health care, Employee free choice, immigration, energy conservation, etc.”

This is the type of propaganda art that Big Hollywood helped stop by publishing the article. The response was sent by a talented print designer (Tugboat Printshops) prior to, but on the same day that, the article was published.

In addition to this email, other documents [documents 4] show that multiple events were in the planning phase leading up to the publication of the article – however all dialogue was abruptly halted the day after its publication. The events revealed in the FOIA documents include a Los Angeles event with hip-hop and indie-rock artists, and a film-screening event with on-air promotions led by Al Gore’s Current TV.

In addition to terminating discussions on these events, the article also halted the NEA’s involvement in another conference call scheduled for August 27th and moderated by Americans for the Arts, a NEA grant recipient. In an email [document 3] dated August 26th, Sergant stated:

“in light of the current situation…I am reviewing the current situation with my team and may or may not be able to participate in the upcoming [United We Serve] call. I will let you know shortly.”

The NEA ultimately did not participate on the conference call due to the article, a fact that was correctly guessed by Lee Rosenbaum, a participant on the August 27th call. One can only wonder how different that call may have been had the NEA participated.

Ultimately Sergant was forced to resign from his post at the NEA and the White House issued conduct guidelines to address the “appearance” issues of the call. However the White House and the NEA both claimed that no laws were violated in this effort.

The obvious question is – if the NEA, the Corporation, and the White House weren’t doing anything wrong, why did this activity abruptly stop?

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.

–

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.”

The subject of the email correspondence was entitled “rock the vote,” which presumably should have been redacted (blacked out) in the subject line given that the organization is a non-government group and the other subject lines in the email chain were redacted.

Readers following this story may recall that Rock the Vote was a presenter on the controversial August 10th conference call that encouraged an arts group that worked on Obama’s election campaign to create art on issues that were being vehemently debated nationally; including health care, energy, and the environment. As a presenter Bates stated the following, “We just wanted to give you one quick tangible example of things that can be done.” Bates then went on to explain how Rock the Vote was considering having an artist create an art installation from urban waste to engage young people “on the issue of a new environmental movement.”

Rock the Vote is a non-profit voter registration organization that is frequently involved in partisan political activity – a conflict that Abernathy appears to address in her email correspondence with Sergant. Eleven days after the August 10th conference call, Rock the Vote announced a health care design competition. The contest announcement read:

“We can’t stand by and listen to lies and deceit coming from those who are against reforming a broken system…We need designs that tell the country YES WE CARE! Young people demand health care now.”

The new FOIA documents also show that additional federal employees were aware of this arts effort, including another NEA employee by the name of Elizabeth Stark. Email correspondence between Abernathy, Sergant, and Stark show that a United We Serve meeting was arranged by Stark for Sergant.

Philip Martin, an outreach coordinator for United We Serve, also appears in the FOIA documents, showing that he was aware of Sergant’s efforts and was working with him on another arts outreach program in Philadelphia. The federal employees that were aware of this arts effort continue to grow and now include Yosi Sergant (NEA), Elizabeth Stark (NEA), Nellie Abernathy (United We Serve), Philip Martin (United We Serve), Buffy Wicks (White House Office of Public Engagement), and Kalpen Modi (White House Office of Public Engagement).

Chairman Landesman’s claim that Sergant acted “unilaterally” is becoming harder to swallow.

One of our ongoing segments has been to read aloud (in suitably dramatic fashion) Yosi Sergant’s twitter feed.  (It really is quite entertaining).  It became such a popular segment with the handful of friends who listen to our practice shows that Moxie decided we needed a “Yosi Update” theme song.  She “Volun-Told” our friend and musician, Gary Eaton to write the diddy and within twenty four hours he had completed his masterpiece.

We hope that you, our the loyal readers of Big Hollywood, who are well-versed with the players involved in this story, will appreciate our “Yosi Update” song:  

YOSI NEEDS A HUG — by Gary Eaton

Barack and Kalpen, Buffy, Rahm, Rocco and Yosi
You can look all you want,
But you’ll never find a Doug
Then  Yosi got caught ‘cause he got too cozy
Now he’s out on his ass
Poor Yosi needs a hug

Blame it on Glenn Beck
Blame it on Faux news
If that doesn’t work
You can blame it on the Jews

Barack and Kalpen, Buffy, Rahm, Rocco, and Yosi
They want to change the world
Whether we like it or not
But someone named Patrick whose last name I can’t pronounce
He went rogue
And they all got caught

Blame it on Glenn Beck
Blame it on Faux news
If that doesn’t work
You can blame it on the Jews

Press release from Judicial Watch:

“(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it obtained more documents from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to the NEA’s controversial August 10 conference call encouraging artists to create work that promotes the Obama agenda.  The documents consist of internal NEA emails indicating the idea for the NEA propaganda effort grew out the Obama campaign while also providing new details regarding White House involvement.  The Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs the AmeriCorps program, was represented during the call.  The agencies and the White House were supposedly promoting the administration’s United We Serve political initiative.  The emails include the actual conference call invitation, which details the controversial policy agenda that was being promoted.  (The controversial call was first uncovered by www.BigGovernment.com. Other documents about the call were first released last week by Judicial Watch.) 

“The following are email excerpts: 

• July 28, 2009, 4:47 pm, Email from unknown Obama campaign activist to Yosi Sergant, former NEA Communications Director:  “It was good to see you a few weeks ago in Washington.  After our conversation, I thought it would be a really good idea to convene via a conference call some significant tastemakers/producers who can support United We Serve.  As many of us contributed our services to the campaign, I would love to gather some of those folks to use their enthusiasm to get behind the President’s very important service initiative.  Here are some people who I think should be part of the call.  [Names redacted.]
• August 6, 2009, Conference Call Invitation sent via email by Yosi Sergant:  “A call has come in to our generation.  A call from the top.  A call from a house that is White.  A call that we must answer.  And to answer it, we need you…United We Serve is President Obama’s call to service challenging all Americans to engage in sustained, meaningful community service.  With the knowledge that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when given the proper tools, President Obama is asking us to come together 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.”
• August 6, 2009, 9:46 pm, Email from Unknown to Yosi Sergeant:  “How can I get down Yosi?  I’m working with [redacted] doing brand consulting and event production for [redacted].  Love to see how we could collaborate our corporate funds with what you’re working on.”
• August 12, 2009, 3:30 pm, Follow-up Email from Unknown participant to Yosi Sergant.  “As per a suggestion on the call, below is a list of action items that might be helpful to inspire an idea on how you can participate in the campaign…Ex) If you are a graphic designer tap into your professional network and organize other designers to create a series of United We Serve posters that can be featured in print, through social media and on serv.gov.  Ex) If you are a DJ, tap into your professional network and organize other DJs to promote Serve.gov or a specific local opportunity on the radio or at a club.” 

“The documents also detail the use of the 9/11 anniversary as a vehicle for this political effort. 

“‘These new documents leave little doubt that the NEA conference call and the ongoing United We Serve effort are direct extensions of the Obama presidential campaign.  Taxpayers should be outraged that their tax dollars were used to promote political ‘art’ for the Obama big government agenda,’ stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. 

“Visit www.JudicialWatch.org to read Judicial Watch’s NEA documents.”

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.

It seems that in 1965 the Congress decided to create the agency for a variety of reasons, my favorite one being:

The world leadership which has come to the United States cannot rest solely upon superior power, wealth, and technology, but must be solidly founded upon worldwide respect and admiration for the Nation’s high qualities as a leader in the realm of ideas and of the spirit.

Ha!  American Exceptionalism was one of the reasons for the creation of the NEA?  Funny that Rocco’s new boss probably wouldn’t agree with this premise.

I made one prediction back in August when I commented on Rocco taking the reigns of the agency.

He will have the highest profile of any NEA Chair before him. It has often been said that the most dangerous place on Broadway is between Rococo Landesman and a microphone.

Jeez.. when I’m right, I’m right.  The past 12 weeks have seen this NEA Chairman granting more interviews than Balloon Boy’s dad.   In light of Rocco’s recent debacle of a speech in Brooklyn to “Grantmakers for the Arts” and the ongoing obfuscation regarding the NEA Conference calls exposed by my colleague Patrick Courrielche, we here at Big Hollywood felt this was a good time for a quarterly evaluation of Rocco’s first 12 weeks as the Chairman of the NEA.

A report card, if you will.

Subject:  ENGLISH

His use of the language is halting if not grammatically correct.  He still speaks in the vernacular of a Broadway Producer, so I’m used to his inherent, knee-jerk narcissism. (In trying to explain the “Facts” regarding the NEA Conference Calls, he felt compelled to add this paragraph):

Although my time here has been brief—in fact I arrived at the agency on August 11th the day after the conference call—I am proud to lead the National Endowment for the Arts, proud to work with its capable and energetic staff, and proud to play a role in enhancing the quality of life for the people of our great nation.

Pssst:  Hey, Rocco… It’s not all about YOU! My big bone to pick comes in the form of his slogan for the agency:  ”Art Works.” It’s as elegant as Tom Delay on “Dancing With the Stars.” I thought the Lefty Boomers were supposed to be the hip and creative ones.  ”Art Works” sounds like something a bureaucrat from the New Deal would come up with.  Couldn’t Yosi think of something a little more “Hip-Hop” before he was forced to leave?

GRADE:  C

Subject:  HISTORY

Much has been said about Rocco’s assertion that President Obama “is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar.”  He now contends that this was a joke (I will take issue with this claim when we discuss his grades in the “Citizenship” category).  For him to sycophantically joke about something like this, knowing that the obnoxious delusion of grandeur President Obama holds (or is thrust upon him by his most fervent, cult-like followers) is probably the most widely-recognized Achilles’ heel of his personalty, shows either an error in judgement or just plain ignorance of not only history, but Obama’s place in it.

GRADE:  F

Subject:   MATH

In Rocco’s first interview (with the NY Times, naturally) he lamented the NEA’s budget size:

Though he would not put a dollar figure on his own fiscal goals, he called the current appropriation of $155 million “pathetic” and “embarrassing.” ….  “We’re going to be looking for funding increases that are more than incremental,” he said.

$155,000,000.  Pathetic and embarrassing.   Hey Rocco:  Take it from a Republican who actually FAVORS the NEA (that would be me)… when your President is calling this economy the worst since the Depression, unemployment is hitting 10% and we have the largest deficits in the history of our great nation… don’t refer to $155,000,000 as pathetic and embarrassing.  It suggests you don’t have a good handle on numbers.  Feel free to lobby for more funds, just don’t do it through the NY Times, it actually HURTS your cause.

GRADE:  D

Subject:  SOCIAL STUDIES

Rocco seems to have a penchant for talking down to small-town, rural America (I know, seems shocking that someone associated with President Obama would come across as an elitist, urban snob, but just go with it for the sake of argument). In explaining his plans to move away from the Bush Administration’s policy of even-handedly and democratically spreading NEA grants out across all congressional districts, Rocco said:

“I don’t know if there’s a theater in Peoria, but I would bet that it’s not as good as Steppenwolf or the Goodman,” he said, referring to two of Chicago’s most prominent theater companies.

This caused a bit of a firestorm from small-town Illinois as I reported back in August.  Rocco’s oh-so-clever response was to announce that his upcoming Art Works Tour of regions of the USA would kick-off with a viewing of “Rent” in the afore-maligned Peoria.  Even though this reeks of the “Big Broadway Producer” deigning to grant an audience to the little people of Peoria, he seemed to stifle the impression of elite snobbery, until last week’s speech:

I know firsthand that great art can come from the unlikeliest of places. A few years ago, I visited Eric, Oklahoma, where a museum was being dedicated to one of my idols, the great country music songwriter and singer, Roger Miller. He wrote the music for my first show, “Big River.” While driving the 140 miles from Oklahoma City to Eric, you pass the hometowns of Sheb Wooley, one of the creators of rock and roll, the songwriter Jimmy Webb, and Garth Brooks. What is in the water there? There are certainly no music conservatories, probably precious few music teachers, no colleges, no arts centers, nothing. Just an inexplicable concentration of genius.

Seriously, does ANYONE from the middle of our country proof these speeches?  (I know, I know, Rocco will be the first to tell you he is from Missouri.. listen real close:  He’s a New Yorker, OK?) Oklahoma Blogger Meredith Dake at her Pointed Observations blog does a thorough, Oklahoma-style fisking of this paragraph, including an actual explanation of what IS in the water there.  My favorite observation:

The next point that he makes is that he didn’t find anything from his drive from Will Rogers to Eric, Oklahoma. To be quite honest, he didn’t pass through the major metropolis areas (though, having been through the Brooklyn area, I’m not sure how much of Brooklyn has “artistic merit”). He was driving to a place that has a population of 1,076 people and maybe has 3 stoplights. But, what he did pass by was USAO. Rocco, if you would have looked to your right, you would have seen the University of Science and ARTS of Oklahoma!

She also points out that in describing the amazing wonder of great musicians coming from this “unlikeliest of places” Rocco seems to be providing the best argument for the disbanding of the NEA:

We also have the Oklahoma Arts Council, which is locally funded and receives few federal dollars. The only federal dollars that I found that the OAC received was from the stimulus. Do you know what this means, Rocco? We don’t need you.

GRADE:  F

Subject:  ECONOMICS

Rocco seems to be all about the arts as “Anchor Store” in the great “Mall” that is “Downtown America“:

Any discussion of policy for coming out of this recession, any plan that addresses economic growth and urban and neighborhood revitalization has to include the arts. We know, and we can prove, that when you bring art and artists into the center of town, that town changes.

I’m going to be generous here, because this concept is actually reflective of supply-side philosophy straight out of Jack Kemp’s playbook (dare I say “trickle-down” arts policy?).  But, the big problem with this whole approach is:  It’s not the JOB of the NEA!  I’m sorry that Rocco is already bored with the position that he admits he lobbied to get, but just because he has professional ennui’ doesn’t mean we need to grant new powers to the NEA that the Congress never intended. Rocco, YOU take the grant money and give it to the most worthy grant recipients.  CONGRESS decides if urban revitalization needs to occur via the arts… or, more correctly, LOCAL governments will make those decisions, not the producer of “Carrie: The Musical” who happened to get a new gig because his friends bundled a big pot of donations for the President.

GRADE:  Incomplete

As with any report card, the student isn’t just graded on his ability in the academic demands of the school.  He also must excel at the basic citizenship requirements; sharing, truthfulness, playing well with others, etc.  How is Rocco doing in CITIZENSHIP?

• In responding to Mitt Romney’s criticism of stimulus money going to the NEA, Rocco said:  ”“The arts are a little bit of a target. The subtext is that it is elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay.”  I see.  Is this a new spin on an old tactic?  If you are against the President’s health care plan, you are a racist.  And if you are against stimulus money going to the NEA, you are a homophobe.  Love it, Rocco, love it.
• In reacting to the NEA conference call debacle, Rocco issued a smarmy recitation of “Facts” which dripped with condescension and intolerance toward anyone who thought that perhaps the calls were slightly irregular.  His “Facts” never mentioned his employee, Yosi Sergant, by name, only that he had been re-assigned.  He never explained what his new job was, and within two weeks, Yosi was gone.
• When recently ridiculed for his sycophantic suck-up of the President he claimed he was only making a joke and he doesn’t REALLY think Obama “is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar.” OK, Rocco, we believe you, why would you lie?
• He recently lashed out at critics in newspapers, the Internet and on cable news as “quote-un-quote journalists“.  Now, the left-wing choir he was preaching to took him to mean Glenn Beck and me and my colleagues here at Big Hollywood.  What Rocco and his devotees aren’t acknowledging is that journalists (without the quotation marks) at the Washington Times, Wall Street Journaland NY Post have also criticized the call and the NEA’s efforts associated with it.  Now, I understand that Rocco’s folks don’t LIKE these newspapers, but does that mean they can just reject them and question whether they are “real” journalists?  Oh, well, since that’s what the administration is doing to Fox, I guess the answer is “yes.”

These incidents and Rocco’s reactions to them call into question his ability to “play well with others.” But, knowing Rocco, I suspect he will wear this particular critique as a badge of honor.

Given his performance over the first 12 weeks of his chairmanship, his overall grade for the 1st quarter is, unfortunately, less than impressive.

OVERALL GRADE:  D-

But, how do things look for the future?  Is Rocco interested in turning his grades around?  I don’t hold out much “hope” for that “change.” Let’s take a look at his wrap-up of last week’s speech:

And will we “advocate” for the President’s agenda as well? If it’s a particular program – e.g. health care reform – no, of course not. But the President picked me for a reason and I decided to go to Washington and sign on with a federal bureaucracy – ugh! – for a reason. And that reason is that within the ethos of this White House, where words like change and hope and aspiration have real meaning, the arts can play a starring role.

If I read this correctly, Rocco is saying that he and the NEA won’t advocate for policies per se, but because of his belief in Obama and what Obama stands for (“where words like change and hope and aspiration have real meaning”) he intends to have his agency “play a starring role” in promoting the IDEA of Obama.  Advocating for the White House itself, if not for their individual policies. He defiantly continued:

“Whatever might be said on television, radio or blog sites, I have no intention of walking away from the compelling themes of this presidency…”.

Rocco, if you are hell-bent on re-defining your role from “Chief Grant Maker for the NEA” to “Chief Advocate for the Obama White House,” you better start caring about what might be said on the Internet and television.  

Don’t believe me?  Ask your former employee, Yosi.

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:

• NEA admits to inappropriate language during NEA call.
• NEA Communications Director Yosi Sergant resigns.
• White House issues new guidelines.
• NEA scrubs leftist call for health-care reform from website.

Too busy scrubbing a website and accepting Yosi’s resignation, Rocco might have missed that someone who probably meets his definition of a “journalist” (i.e., an Obama supporter) had this to say about an NEA conference call that occurred a little more than two weeks after the now-infamous August 10th call:

I’m “creeped out” too…even though, like many on the call, I supported and (with reservations) still support the agenda of the new President.

By any standard, Lee Rosenbaum is a respected and prominent writer in the art community who contributes to, among others, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and New York Public Radio. On August 27th she participated in a conference call hosted by Kalpen Modi (Kal Penn of “Kumar” fame) of the White House Office of Public Engagement (the same office as Buffy Wicks) and Robert Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts — a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that, just  two days after the August 10th conference call, joined a host of other national non-profit art organizations in calling for health-care reform, including the “public health insurance option.”

The invitation for the August 27th call was posted on the Americans for the Arts website (it has since been scrubbed, but screen shots are available below), and came directly from Modi. The invitation reads in part: [emphasis added]

“Please join us for a United We Serve / Arts conference call … I’ll be facilitating the call. We’ll also have representatives from” The Corporation for National and Community Service, National Endowment for the Arts, and Americans for the Arts.

“The purpose of United We Serve – a project of the White House and Corporation for National and Community Service – is to engage all Americans in the nation’s economic recovery at a time of great challenge and great opportunity. … The president and First Lady are challenging people young and old, in communities large and small, to roll up their sleeves and work together to tackle some of the nation’s toughest issues: education; health; energy and environment; community renewal; and safety and security. …

Though Modi’s invitation went out prior to Courrielche’s August 25th Big Hollywood expose’ of the August 10th call, Modi’s actual conference call (which Courrielche did not participate in) took place 2 days after the Big Hollywood piece published –  and Ms. Rosenbaum wonders if that might have caused “second thoughts about commandeering their constituents for this political adventure[.]” For starters, though the invite said they would, the NEA and the NEH did not participate:

This was the second such conference call: In a post on the Big Hollywood blog (excerpted yesterday by the Wall Street Journal), Patrick Courrielche, who reported that he was invited by the National Endowment for the Arts to participate in the first telephone discussion on Aug. 10, came away fearing that the arts were at risk of “becoming a tool of the state.” …

At the beginning of the second conference call, last Thursday, Modi informed us that “unfortunately our colleagues from NEA and NEH [the National Endowment for the Humanites]” were tied up in meetings and couldn’t participate, as had been planned.

Could it be they were having second thoughts about commandeering their constituents for this political adventure? We can only hope so.

The mind reels at how much more “creepy” Ms. Rosenbaum’s conference call might have been had Courrielche’s article not posted just two days earlier. 

Maybe as creepy as those “quote-unquote journalists” at the right-wing extremist Boston Globe found the whole sordid affair.

If Landesman wants to help our side further the Obama-worship narrative with swaggering, grandiose comparisons of the president to Julius Caesar, I’m all in favor of that. What is troubling, though, is when a man in charge of millions of federal dollars saves all his contempt for those who point out wrongdoing and none for the actual wrongdoing.

Stage Right contributed to this article.

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