GOP probe, NEA questions , and Yosi Sergant's resignation

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | September 25, 2009 at 01:17 pm

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The artist as dissident , always?

Howe and Strauss would beg to differ: Might not there be a time for a resurgence of the FDR-era concept as the "Artist as Servant of State Power", as also in the Republic of Plato? And the historian duo would also warn against treating a 4th turning with 3rd turning standards. (* In one of the odd twists of historical fate, it is fairly certain that H & S, when they wrote their prophetic work in 1996, were envisioning a GOP "frightening uniformity" , particularly with Millennials, while the left sat in "shock and awe". What has occurred instead, is the left trying for a frightening uniformity, with the GOP holding them stymied with Glenn Beck and Tea Baggers. Now how will that all work out, one wonders? But I think I know...)

A memorandum has been issued to clarify and address the ongoing problem the National Endowment for the Arts has had regarding a conference call that was posted on a right wing forum, and which raised questions of legality and decorum.

New guidelines have been issued by Gregory Craig, counsel to the President and Norman Eisen, special counsel. The memorandum makes clear guidelines for initiatives regarding volunteerism and National Service.

Yosi Segant, the communications head at the time of the conference call, submitted his resignation yesterday, Thursday, Sep. 24.

The report states firmly that, "engagement with non-government organizations and citizens should be even-handed."

One can only wonder why Yosi Sergant's resignation was submitted, as no laws were found to be broken, and corrections have been made. A national initiative condoning volunteer work and national service is a profound societal good. It is understandable why the GOP would conduct such an overblown witch hunt; what remains unclear is why the Democrats have folded.

One blogger has called this, "The Shepherd Fairey Boomerang": In other words, the posters which Fairey made and were nationally distributed during the campaign, gave the sense - a false one, it seems - that were Obama to be elected, the same would continue, in FDR-era spirit. To the right, this would be a disaster; to many on the left, a good thing.

And there is the idea, also, that Sergant acted in concert with all authorities, and has been "thrown under the bus":

“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.

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?

Let’s not forget, Buffy Wicks from the White House Office of Public Engagement was on the call. And from the transcript of the call it is obvious that she was aware of the goal of the call, which was to “support some of the President’s initiatives,” and cognizant of the audience’s affinity for the President, hence her thanking them for the two-plus years of support on his campaign.

. . . Secondly, what specific aspect of his actions were unilateral and without approval? Definitely not the encouragement of the art community to tackle health care, energy and the environment, because that same request was part of a different but similar conference call invitation scheduled for August 27th. That invitation was sent out by Kalpen Modi (”Kal Penn”), Associate Director for the White House Office of Public Engagement, and was sent to a completely different arts group. As discussed in a previous post, the NEA and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) were on the invitation and scheduled to be on that conference call as well. However both federal arts organizations backed out of participating on the call, which was held two days after my original article went live on Big Hollywood.

Source: bighollywood.breitbart.com

The original FOX News announcement regarding the resignation of Yosi Sergant Thursday afternoon:

A senior official at the National Endowment for the Arts resigned Thursday following an uproar over his participation in a controversial conference call last month that some said encouraged artists to create works supporting President Obama's domestic agenda.
At the same time, White House officials released new guidelines on public outreach meetings, saying the conference call hosted in part by the NEA offered the Obama administration a "teaching moment" on separating policy and politics.

Yosi Sergant, who was director of communications for the NEA until he was reassigned this month in the wake of the controversy, offered his resignation Thursday afternoon, the NEA said in a written statement.

"His resignation has been accepted and is effective immediately," the statement read.

Sergant was one of several officials on an hour-long conference call on Aug. 10 hosted by the NEA, the White House Office of Public Engagement and United We Serve, a nationwide initiative launched by President Obama to increase volunteerism.

The official participants -- including Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement Buffy Wicks and Michael Skolnik, political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons -- sought focused efforts by the approximately 75 artists on the call to produce works of art that supported the Obama administration's agenda in areas like health care, energy and environment, education and community renewal.

White House officials announced earlier this week that steps would be taken to prevent a recurrence of the call after critics, including one of the artists on the call, labeled it a "well thought-out pitch" to encourage artists to create art on those issues.

The guidelines were posted Thursday on the White House's blog.