A member of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees has called out Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., for refusing to accept multiple invitations for in-person meetings to discuss the center’s management. The senator has been leveling ‘mismanagement’ allegations against the center.
Kennedy Center Board Member Responds
Kennedy Center board member Brian Ballard wrote to Whitehouse, stating that the center’s leadership has provided a transparent and thorough assessment of the scope of work needed to address the center’s decades of deferred maintenance. Ballard expressed hope that Whitehouse would attend the next board meeting, adding that they share the priority goal of success for the National Cultural Center.
The dispute between the Kennedy Center and Sen. Whitehouse began after the senator penned a scathing letter to the center’s Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Matt Floca, slamming what he called the center’s ‘sorry pattern’ of mismanagement. The senator threatened that if the intention is to drive the center into financial failure, that would be the very definition of fiduciary failure.
Background
A federal judge in May blocked the Trump administration’s plans to shutter the Kennedy Center for a two-year renovation project. The judge also blocked the renaming of the Kennedy Center to the Trump Kennedy Center, insisting only Congress can change its name.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
