Public Broadcasters Regret List Swap
By MELISSA B. ROBINSON, AP
WASHINGTON (AP), The Corporation for Public Broadcasting said Tuesday that 26
member public television stations in major markets appear to have exchanged membership
lists with political organizations.
Testifying at a politically charged congressional hearing, Robert T. Coonrod,
the corporation's president, said a recent survey found that 53 of 75 television stations
in large markets used third-party brokers to exchange membership lists with other
nonprofit organizations.
Of those, he said, fewer than 30 television stations appear to have exchanged
names with political organizations aligned with either the Democratic or Republican
parties.
Later, the corporation narrowed the number to 26. Officials did not identify the
stations, saying that the survey information was largely anecdotal and needed further
verification. A report from the corporation's inspector general is due later this year.
Coonrod said all the contact between public broadcasters and political
organizations appears to have been through brokers. He acknowledged, however, that
investigations are under way, and ``it is possible there is information out there that we
haven't collected.''
In addition to the stations that exchanged membership information, about 30 also
received lists from political organizations.
In recent weeks, stations in such major markets as Boston, New York and
Washington have acknowledged making membership lists available to political organizations,
including the Democratic National Committee.
The DNC has said that it always goes through brokers in order to obtain lists
for fund raising.
In addition to the DNC and other Democratic organizations such as California
Sen. Barbara Boxer's campaign, at least seven Republican entities have been involved in
list-swapping, including Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign, said Coonrod. The
controversy centers on whether public broadcasters violated federal tax law by providing
their lists to political groups. The Internal Revenue Service typically imposes a
three-year statute of limitations on such violations.
Although sharing membership lists is a legitimate business practice done daily
by countless organizations, the corporation is a private, nonprofit entity that is
considered a charity for tax purposes. As such, it is barred from direct or indirect
interventions in political campaigns.
The corporation distributes federal money to public radio and television
stations, National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.
Providing lists to a political group would not necessarily constitute an
improper intervention as long as the lists were provided equally to all campaigns or
parties, tax specialists say. At the hearing, public broadcasting executives pledged
to investigate and halt all political list-swapping, even as congressional Republicans
continued to condemn the practice and demand a review of the industry's federal funding.
Ervin S. Duggan, the PBS president, said an advisory would go out this week
urging member stations to ``establish policies strictly prohibiting the exchange or rental
of lists to partisan political campaigns, committees or groups.''
Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on
telecommunications, suggested imposing sanctions on stations that have engaged in the
practice.
Tauzin is also drafting a bill to authorize funding for the corporation at lower
levels than initially proposed. Earlier, Tauzin recommended $300 million in 2000 and up to
$475 million a year from 2002 to 2006.
The corporation now gets about $250 million a year, or about 15 percent of its
budget, from the federal government. The rest comes from businesses, foundations, state
governments and viewers.
