Inside the Beltway

Public concern

Former NBC newsman Ken Bode and former Reader’s Digest Executive Editor William Schulz will fill the newly created positions of ombudsmen for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“On some days we receive praise for what we do, and on other days our audiences express concerns,” said CPB President and Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Cox. “Congress has asked the [CPB] to both protect the production of public broadcasting from undue interference and to ensure that it represents high standards in accuracy, balance and objectivity.”

What we read

We see from the just-released 2004 list of best-sellers that politics and prayer are two of the hottest subjects for Americans.

Washington celebrity biographer Kitty Kelley finished in the 14th spot overall with “The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty.” About 715,000 copies of the book have been sold since its release in September, despite President Bush’s top lieutenants dismissing it as “garbage” and “fiction.”

Other top books, according to Publishers Weekly: “The Purpose Driven Life,” by Rick Warren (No. 1) and “My Life,” by Bill Clinton (No. 3).

Never Neverland

Washington malpractice lawyer Jack Olender assures Inside the Beltway that he was only playing an April Fools’ Day prank when, while out of town at a conference, he dictated a memo over the phone to his secretary announcing to his staff that he was on his way to California to take over the Michael Jackson defense.

In the memo, he also said he was requesting volunteer lawyers and staff members to go out to California to assist him.

“I promised that if the jury rendered a defense verdict or was deadlocked, we’d celebrate at Neverland,” Mr. Olender says.

Colorless loans

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