When Bill Clinton nominated his old friend Mickey Kantor’s wife to the board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting last week, the embarrassing saga of Martha Buchanan officially became ancient history. Heidi Schulman (Mrs. Kantor) will replace Buchanan, who resigned in March after the White House made it clear that the furor over her alleged sexual harassment of a male CPB staffer in 1992 meant she had to go.
After Buchanan’s shenanigans made news earlier this year, Clinton White House spinners were only too eager to point out that Buchanan was named to the CPB board by George Bush. What they didn’t say was that only two years ago, the Clinton White House quietly tried to make Buchanan the board’s chairman. And why? All because of fellow board member Diane Blair — Hillary Clinton’s close friend and the wife of Tyson Foods lawyer Jim Blair. You remember Blair. He’s the fellow who made Mrs. Clinton that $ 100,000 in instant profit trading cattle futures.
After Clinton’s election, the opportunistic Buchanan struck a strategic alliance with Blair. In September 1994, with Diane Blair’s backing, Buchanan decided to run for board chairman.
The deciding vote fell to board member Frank Cruz, who had to vote by absentee ballot from California. Cruz got a phone call from White House aide Craig Smith informing him that Bill Clinton himself wanted Cruz to vote for Buchanan. Cruz explained that he’d already voted for Buchanan’s rival, Henry Cauthen. CPB sources say that Diane Blair tipped the White House to Cruz’s intention to vote against her friend Buchanan. A few days later, Smith called back and said it was very important that Cruz change his vote to Buchanan. He declined. Buchanan lost out. Bizarre, no?
