White House Says Telecon With Artists Won't Happen Again

While White House lawyers do not believe that the NEA call violated the law, "the appearance issues troubled some participants," [White House spokesman Bill] Burton said. "It is the policy of the administration that grant decisions should be on the merits and that government officials should avoid even creating the incorrect appearance that politics has anything to do with these decisions."

"Government agencies are not supposed to be engaged in political activities," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). "Here, because they didn't veer off into 'This is about the election,' where you'd get into violations of the Hatch Act, it's not illegal. But it doesn't look good—it looks terrible. It's inappropriate."

The original article can be found here.