Bush puts conservative on public broadcast board

[Judi Lynn]

Bush puts conservative on public broadcast board

By Jeremy Pelofsky
Reuters
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; 7:50 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Wednesday installed self-described conservative writer and producer Warren Bell on the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports U.S. public television and radio.

Bell, who was nominated in June, writes for the conservative magazine The National Review and was previously a writer and producer for "Coach" and "Ellen," two popular TV series in the 1990s.

The Senate Commerce Committee had been scheduled to hold a confirmation hearing for him in September but he was dropped from the agenda because of concerns by both Republicans and Democrats.

The Los Angeles Times reported that some of Bell's fellow writers said he had made negative comments about funding public broadcasting, a charge he denied. No action on his nomination was taken by the Senate before it adjourned earlier this month.
(snip/...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/20/AR2006122001614.html

[Donnachaidh]

1. another recess appointment?

His people are SO suited for the job they cannot stand up to investigations. :sarcasm:

I cannot WAIT till the investigations begin.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Some magnificent words of wisdom from Warren Bell

Who Is Warren Bell?

The founders of public broadcasting envisioned the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to consist of "distinguished and public-spirited citizens" possessing "the various areas of talent and experience appropriate to this enterprise." Their role was to insulate public broadcasting from political interference in program content.

Consider these comments from Warren Bell, recently nominated by the White House to the CPB board:

I would "reach across the aisle and hug Nancy Pelosi … except this is a new shirt, and that sort of thing leaves a stain."1

"I support a woman's right to choose what movie we should see, but not that other one. I am on the Right in every way."2

On his practice of using TiVo to block birth control ads on television he does not want his children to see: "A little vigilance is all it takes - well, that and a couple hundred bucks for a TiVo…Sorry, poor people, your kids are going to be asking you awkward questions about condoms."3
(snip/...)

http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=2004587

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nomination on Hold for Warren Bell
From Los Angeles Times, September 21, 2006
By Matea Gold



Television sitcom producer Warren Bell’s appointment to the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting appears in jeopardy after the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday abruptly pulled him from a nomination hearing scheduled for today.

A spokesman for Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the committee chairman, said Bell was removed from the agenda because several senators on the panel had concerns about his nomination. Hearings for two other CPB nominees — former Arkansas Sen. David H. Pryor and Chris Boskin, a board member of San Francisco’s public broadcasting TV station KQED — are still going forward today.

Bell, executive producer and show-runner of ABC’s “According to Jim,” was tapped by President Bush in June to serve on the board of the private, nonprofit corporation that distributes federal funds to local public television and radio stations.

The selection of the outspoken conservative disquieted many public broadcasting officials, who were troubled by partisan comments Bell has posted on the website of the conservative National Review magazine. His sharp opinions caused some broadcasters to fear that Bell would rekindle the fierce political debate that engulfed the corporation last year under the leadership of former Chairman Kenneth Y. Tomlinson.
(snip/...)

http://www.freepress.net/news/17815



Right wing-ding Warren Bell

[MadMaddie]

3. Maybe it's time for Congress to look at the recess appointment

process..it's been abused so badly that there is no way that it can continue..

[MasonJar]

4. Again! Damn! I am so sick of him! Impeach the b_____d.

[KoKo]

5. And he has two more years to keep "recess appointing." Stacking the

Government and courts with his "hand picked conservatives."

Something needs to be done to limit the amount of "recess appointments" a President can make.

[brook]

6. Not only the number

of recess appointments, but limit the agencies and positions open to the 'anointed'. Serious jobs that will have long term impacts on the country and its policies need to go before the appropriate hearings.
Any President who isn't trying to make an end run around the Constitution shouldn't have a problem with some limitations.

[originalpckelly]

7. You'd think he be tired of pointing by now.

I better not catch him a'pointing at me!

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. Conservative writer and Producer for "Ellen?"

Strange.

[Taverner]

9. Could be the early Ellen

The show was always family friendly, but more friendlier to conservative families in the earlier shows.