President Obama’s Arts and Entertainment Czar appointed on June 10, has provoked outrage from that industry over his heavy-handed rule..

George P. Burdell, a 1998 graduate of Georgia Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree in Technology and Culture with the Gender Studies Option, has, until now, received little attention in the press.  His appointment drew little attention in spite of the fact that he is a Southern Baptist and a deacon in Atlanta’s mega Mosaic Baptist Church.

Burdell has taken action on the recipients of federal stimulus funds from the The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  The Act of Congress was based largely on proposals made by President Barack Obama.  National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) was given $80 million of the government’s $787 billion economic stimulus bill to spread around to needy artists nationwide.  This is on top of the NEA’s budget submitted to Congress as part of President Obama's FY 2010 budget. The President's budget requests $161.3 million for the agency, an increase of $6.3 million or 4 percent over the NEA's FY 2009 budget of $155 million.

Since tax payer federal stimulus money was used to bail out the arts and entertainment industry, Burdell reasoned that he had the power and the right to regulate salaries of the organizations that received the funds.

The first organization to be notified of salary caps is the Frameline film house in San Francisco.  Frameline, founded in 1977, received a $50,000 infusion.  Frameline recently screened Thundercrack, "the world's only underground kinky art porno horror film, complete with four men, three women and a gorilla." Staffers said the stimulus funds were helping keep jobs alive in San Francisco whose economy positively runs on art.   Frameline is the largest distributor of gay and lesbian films in the world.  Its catalog of more than 150 films includes such key works as ``Tongues Untied'' by the late Oakland film maker Mar lon Riggs and ``Nitrate Kisses'' by local film maker Barbara Hammer.  Frameline’s stated mission is "to strengthen the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video and other media arts."

Frameline, a non-profit organization, operates on a budget of $2.2 million with 12 professional staff (with additional seasonal staff), an 18 member board, and hundreds of volunteers.  Matt Westendorf, Frameline’s Managing Director responsible for carrying out the mission of the charity and leading the organization on a day-to-day basis, earns $79,174 annually.  Michael Lumpkin, Artistic Director, earns $99,750 per year in salary, cash bonuses, expense accounts and other allowances.

Burdell stated, “The two directors of Frameline will have their salaries and benefits cut by 50%.  Their compensation for a non-profit arts and entertainment organization are excessive especially since some of their funding comes from federal stimulus money and from federal funding through the NEA.”  Further, Burdell stated that he is investigating Frameline and will decide if their mission, productions, and products are worthy of future tax-payer funded support.  Burdell explained, "My intent is not to censor artistic freedom.  The fundamental question is should the taxpayers support artists that the public has not supported in the open market place?"

The Screen Actors Guild, the union representing actors in film, television, industrials, commercials, and music videos, is infuriated and demanded that Burdell either resign or be fired by President Obama.  David Fair, National Executive Director of the Union, appearing with Mr. Burdell, said in a Fox News debate, “President Obama’s czar has gone far beyond the Constitutional laws for power in the executive branch of the federal government.  Has George P. Burdell been before the U.S. Senate consent and approval like the Constitution requires?  No!  Has he constitutional powers to dictate what directors of organizations like Frameline can make?  No!  Obama is fast becoming a dictator pushing his socialistic “share the wealth” policies upon the arts and entertainment industry.  It’s time to step back and return to what the framers of our Constitution intended.  Where are the checks and balances?  Why has Congress abdicated their responsibilities?   What’s next, setting the salaries for actors and actresses who received federal grants to get them through acting school?  There will be no end to this unless we rise up and demand the elimination of all czars from the Executive Branch.

“Will Burdell now force his far right religious views on arts and entertainment upon our industry?  What’s next?  No nudity, no profanity, no anti-American bias in our films and theatres?  I’m telling you, there is no stopping once we allow this to continue.  It’s dangerous and a threat to the freedom of the press when the President and his czar targets a media that he doesn’t approve,” Fair argued.  “This bozo Baptist from Georgia is dangerous!  He’s got to go”

Mr. Fair continued, “Obama has forty czars with more planned.  He has a pay czar, a car czar, an arts and entertainment czar, an economic czar, a domestic violence czar, education czar, energy czar, and on and on.  There are more than I can remember.”

Burdell defended himself and his position.  He responded, “Our President wants to make sure that federal stimulus funds and federal appropriations are being used wisely.  We don’t want to waste tax-payer money.  After all, Kenneth Feinberg, the pay czar, has broad authority over compensation for senior executives and the top 100 earners at American International Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., General Motors Corp., GMAC LLC, Chrysler LLC, and Chrysler Financial.   All of these companies received "exceptional assistance" from the Troubled Asset Relief Program passed by Congress.  He has the right to limit ridiculous salary and compensation because these companies received federal bail-out money.  The top employees will see pay and incentives cut 50% and have many perks taken away.  Their base salaries will be cut by 90%.  There are no loopholes.  There are no more perks, no corporate jets, and no country club dues.  In fact, our President has praised Mr. Feinberg and urges him to make cuts on an even deeper scale.

“Remember the President said recently, "It offends our values when executives of big financial firms pay themselves huge bonuses, even as they continue to rely on taxpayer assistance to stay afloat."  “Thus,” Burdell argued, “the President knows what America’s values are.  The values of our country are to have decent arts and entertainment that includes no profanity, no nudity, and no anti-American bias in our films and theatres.  The values of our country are that non-profit institutions that receive federal dollars do not overly compensate their directors and managers.

“I am charged with protecting the American tax-payer and American values.  I am doing my job of saving our country from the greed and filth of Hollywood.  What I’ve done with Frameline is just the beginning.  The approval ratings of my actions are over 60% which is almost unheard of.  The snowball is rolling down the hill and will do nothing but get bigger and bigger as our President and czars guard our country from corruption, greed, and anti-American views that dare criticize Mr. Obama.