John Frohnmayer honored as a recipient of one of the 2007 Oregon Literary Fellowships

John Frohnmayer was honored today as a recipient of one of the 2007 Oregon Literary Fellowships for his musical 'Spin' which is based on his tumultuous time as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts under President H.W. Bush. He was fired by the Bush Sr. administration for choosing First Amendment Rights of artists over partisan politics that have continued to make Washington, D.C. so toxic. John's musical will be workshoped by Oregon State University in the spring of 2008.

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The Art Your Tax Money Buys

by John Frohnmayer
Published in the Washington Post
April 13, 1991
It's your 68 cents, so let's talk about it. That's what each citizen pays in taxes -- on average -- for everything the National Endowment for the Arts does. You are entitled to know what it buys, who chooses; what we who administer it stand for (that is, unless you're tired of reading and hearing about arts wars, for which I wouldn't blame you).

During the 25 years of its existence, the endowment has made 90,000 grants. Of these, about 30 have been controversial. Still, I would guess those 30 -- or maybe just a couple of them -- are all most of you know about the endowment. Consider the following:
What it buys:

During the past 25 years, your tax money that went to the endowment has helped bring into being 70 new choruses and 120 new symphony orchestras. Some of the music that they have made and you have enjoyed is sacred, some secular.

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Don't Tread on the 'Net

by John Frohnmayer
April 9, 1995
Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Now and then a piece of legislation reminds us that we must continue the search for intelligent life on Earth. Sen. James Exon's ''Communications Decency Act,'' which passed the Senate Commerce Committee without hearings in late March, would cryogenically freeze the Internet, send the government on a futile search for the nude and the lewd and trivialize the memory of free speech.
Because the Internet is powerful is not a reason to license or restrain it. Just as the printing press was enshrined in freedom in the First Amendment, we must do the same for the Net.


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Congress must not relinquish its power

Published in the Oregonian
July 24, 2006
by John Frohnmayer

Ten years ago, Oregon's Sen. Mark Hatfield opposed a bid to pass a federal line-item veto, saying it was "the greatest effort to shift the balance of power to the White House that has happened since Franklin Roosevelt's attempt to pack the Supreme Court."

The president then was Bill Clinton, the bill passed and the U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional. But like the horror figure with a hockey mask and a chain saw, it's back: The line-item veto has been passed by the House of Representatives and is pending in the Senate. Well, it's not just a bad idea; it's a terrible idea.

Here's what we know:

* The line-item veto would significantly increase presidential power. For example, the president could wait up to a year before proposing to cancel a specific item, using the potential veto as a threat to exact concessions from Congress.

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Contempt for U.S. Constitution (Op-Ed)

by John Frohnmayer
Published in the Los Angeles Times and Atlanta Journal Constitution
September 21, 1992

The Republican platform is now available in print for public scrutiny, which it richly deserves, for it is a document worthy of the convention that spawned it - a dismal and bloodless exercise in name- calling and blame-shifting. But most dismaying to those of us who would like to feel a part of the Republican Party, it juxtaposes patriotic rhetoric with utter contempt for our Constitution. Consider a few examples:

The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." The Republican platform says, "We believe our laws should reflect what makes our nation prosperous and wholesome: faith in God."

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