Leadership of Commission on Presidential Debates

The Commission that plans presidential debates advertises itself as “non-partisan” and lists politically neutral associations for all commission leadership members, even for people who have been very active in politics.

For example, Leon Panetta’s bio lists him only as “Chairman, Panetta Institute for Public Policy.” Puh-leeze. Panetta served eight terms (1994 to 1997) as the Representative (D) for CA-17. Then, he went on to serve in not one, but three high level positions within Democrat presidential administrations!

• 1994-1997: Clinton’s WH Chief of Staff
• 2009-2011: Obama’s CIA Director
• 2011-2013: Obama’s Defense Secretary

They also list four former presidents as Honorary Co-Chairmen; however, none of them are the two still-living Republicans.  N.b., I removed the two dead Republicans from the list when I made this graphic.

Sources:

• http://www.debates.org/index.php?page=commission-leadership
• http://www.debates.org/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,detail,0&cntnt01articleid=55&cntnt01origid=27&cntnt01detailtemplate=newspage&cntnt01returnid=80 < Commission advertises itself as non-partisan and lists neutral associations for all commission leadership members, despite most of them having very decided party associations in their bios.
• http://wtfcpd.blogspot.com/2012/08/who-runs-non-partisan-commission-on.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_J._Fahrenkopf,_Jr. < Former RNC chair
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_McCurry_%28press_secretary%29 < Pres Clinton’s Press Sec
• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/opinion/sunday/catching-up-with-the-debates-director-janet-h-brown.html?_r=0 < Janet H. Brown has led the debate commission since its founding in 1987 and previously worked in staff positions at the White House, the Office of Management and Budget, the State Department and the Senate. She was a staff member for John C. Danforth in the Senate.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_G._Kirk < Former DNC chair
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Graham_Buffett < Philanthropist son of Warren Buffet, father of Howard Warren Buffet. Warren and Howard W. are Democrats. Howard G.’s bio does not mention politics and I found no record of political donations for him. However, organizations he is affiliated with, such as National Geographic Council of Advisors and World Wildlife Fund, lean left.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Danforth < GWBush’s Ambassador to United Nations
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Daniels < Former governor of Indiana
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Gibson < Television journalist, co-anchored Good Morning America
• http://www.mrc.org/profiles-bias/abc%E2%80%99s-charles-gibson-conventional-liberal < MRC analysis of Gibson’s political leanings = “typical media elite liberal.” Reading through the selection of quotations is enlightening. Jimmy Carter “the greatest ex-President of modern times.” Bill Clinton “fascinating.” Republican platform not “open” or “compassionate.” Support for gun control “By my count, we have more states rejecting new gun control legislation than have passed it. We have 15 states that have passed prohibitions on cities suing gun manufacturers. That hardly seems like progress.” There’s lots more.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_%26_Company < Griffen is managing director of Allen & Co, “a small, privately held boutique investment bank” that “specializes in the media and entertainment sectors.” Given the heavy left-wing slant of media and entertainment, I’m guessing he leans left.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Harman < Former U.S. Representative (Dem CA-36).
• https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/antonia-hern%C3%A1ndez < Antonia Hernandez, President and CEO, California Community Foundation, former President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense, former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, former staff attorney with the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice. I’m guessing she leans left.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_I._Jenkins < Rev. John I. Jenkins, President of Notre Dame University. Despite claiming a commitment to upholding the Catholic identity of Notre Dame, he invited pro-abortion president Obama to attend Notre Dame’s 2009 commencement ceremony and to receive an honorary degree and allowed performances of The Vagina Monologues and showings of gay films on campus.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lehrer < Jim Lehrer, former executive editor and a former news anchor for the PBS NewsHour, frequent presidential debate moderator. Although he claims to be “dead serious” about his neutrality, MRC’s analysis of his debate questions shows a pro-Democrat slant.
• http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2008/09/26/jim-lehrer-not-bias-free-moderator < Jim Lehrer analysis.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidley_Austin < Newton N. Minow, Senior Counsel in Chicago Sidley Austin, the law office that employed both Michelle then-Robinson and Barack Obama. The NY office hired Bernardine Dohrn.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_N._Minow < Minow “has been active in Democratic party politics.”
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Panetta < Long history in high level Democrat politics.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Parsons_%28businessman%29 < Worked for Rockefeller, Ford, Giuliani.
• http://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/12/us/partisan-no-political-you-bet.html < Dorothy S. Ridings, Former President, League of Women Voters of the United States. I can’t find specifics about her political affiliations, but this is in this 1985 interview with the NYT: “‘A lot of people confuse being political, which we surely are, with being partisan, which we surely are not.’ … She finds it amusing that some say the league is partial to Democrats, since demographically its average member is a moderate Republican. In fact, she said, she fits the profile.” She then cites her demographics (age, education, income, marital status, children, race) but NOT her party! It seems to me, if she was a Republican, she would’ve included that in her list of “I’m so typical of LWV membership”, KWIM? Plus, she started out as a journalist and the LWV was founded in Chicago. I think it’s a safe bet she leans left.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Schieffer < Bob Schieffer (retired) – 46 years at CBS, including Face the Nation moderator, CBS Evening News anchor, 60 Minutes host. CBS would like us to believe Schieffer was non-partisan. His record shows him to be a slobbering Democrat who thinks poofing Obama’s pillows is unbiased journalism.
  
• http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeffrey-meyer/2015/04/09/cbs-oozes-giant-journalism-amazing-bob-schieffer-retiring < In 2009, Bob Schieffer said of Alaska’s Governor Sarah Palin (who had had the highest approval rating of any governor anywhere anytime), “My guess is she’s not ever going to run for anything and I think if she did, I don’t think she would get very far….I think she’ll be a great attraction out, you know, as an amusement.” In 2013, he said some lines from Obama’s State of the Union speech reminded him of “what Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address.” In 2014, he asked Obama questions like, “You had a tough summer. We saw the rise of ISIS, the outbreak of Ebola, trouble in the Ukraine, illegal immigrants coming across the border. Did you ever go back to the residence at night and say, ‘Are we ever going to get a break here?’…You came here talking about hope and change. Do you still hope? Is change, was it harder than you thought it would be?” Would you like a foot rub with that, Your Messiah-ship?
• http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Olympia_Snowe_Principles_+_Values.htm < Olympia Snowe favors abortion and same sex marriage, two very hot button issues dividing the two parties. She’s not likely to be sympathetic to any of the GOP candidates.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirley_M._Tilghman < Shirley M. Tilghman, Former President, Princeton University, atheist. Hmmm … a Princeton atheist … lemme guess.