Shocking!

You will undoubtedly be shocked, shocked! to learn that yet another high official of the Bush administration has been caught cheating his employers, that is, you and me. As The New York Times reports:

"State Department investigators have found that the head of the agency overseeing most government broadcasts to foreign countries has used his office to run a 'horse racing operation' and that he improperly put a friend on the payroll, according to a summary of a report made public on Tuesday by a Democratic lawmaker."

That's right, a horse racing operation.

The individual involved is Kenneth Tomlinson, who was run out of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting after he was caught breaking the rules designed to insulate that operation from political influence. You might think that someone like that would be put out to pasture or at least given a low profile, but not in this administration. Instead, Tomlinson was given one of the most important posts in "public diplomacy" (a/k/a propaganda). This at a time when the United States' image and moral position in the world is more challenged than at any time since Vietnam, or perhaps ever. And what does he do during working hours? Apparently, running a stable of race horses and sending State Department employees on personal errands for him.

Tomlinson's cupidity was brought to light after a whistle-blower contacted three Democratic members of Congress, Sen. Chris Dodd (D.CT) and Reps. Howard Berman (D.CA) and Tom Lantos (D.CA).

My favorite line in the Times' story was this:

"In providing the report to the members of Congress, the State Department warned that making it public could violate federal law, people who have seen the report said."

Ah, yes. The public be damned, as one of the Vanderbilts so touchingly said.