I have sent the following email to the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund as a follow-up to our diaries concerning their potential award to George Allen. As a result of Kossack action yesterday Senator "Macaca" Allen has now declined the award.
My email is as follows. I believe it is self-explanatory.
Leonie Green
Executive Assistant to President
I am concerned that the recently planned presentation of the Thurgood Marshall Community Leadership Award to Senator George Allen is resulting in loss of some public confidence in your fine organization and ill feelings regarding your Board of Directors.
It is my understanding that the award that was to be presented to Senator Allen was a local Washington D.C. "Community Leadership Award" which is given to numerous individuals in several cities across the country. I imagine that the individuals chosen for this award are likely chosen by local leaders without your Board's direct involvement. In addition, as I understand, your organization has a "highest honors" Leadership Award which is given to four outstanding individuals each year at the Annual Awards dinner. I would think that your Board is directly involved in the selection of these outstanding individuals.
It is my opinion that the public is being led to believe, whether intentionally or not, that Senator Allen was to be given the highly regarded outstanding leadership award rather than the more common local award. This confusion may be the direct result of statements made by the Allen campaign in an effort to put a "positive spin" on this situation. Unfortunately, these remarks may well be causing the public questioning of your Board in selecting Senator Allen.
These remarks are as follows:
1. Senator Allen in his declining press release stating in part: "I am very honored to have been chosen to receive this prestigious award."
2. Today's Washington Post article stating in part: "Allen spokesman John Reid said the senator was notified Aug. 3 that he was one of five people to receive the award from the New York-based fund, a national organization that was established in 1987 and has given about $50 million in scholarships to more than 5,000 Thurgood Marshall scholars."
One can readily see why the public is expressing confusion and some dismay with your Board. My advice, for what it's worth, would be for your Board to issue a formal press release that states clearly the various awards your organization grants, the specific award Senator Allen was to receive, approximately how many individuals receive this award each year, the reason for having chosen Senator Allen, and whether or not the Board was involved in the selection. Failure to do this may well result in further collateral damage to your fine organization and directly impact future donations and support.
Let's hope the TMSF takes action to clarify this matter and correct the Allen Campaign misleading spin about the award and its significance.