Kennedy Center Altered Rules So Only Trump-Appointed Board Members Could Vote on Name Change
The Washington, D.C.-based institution was renamed the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts earlier this month
Legally Unclear
The Washington, D.C.-based institution was renamed the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts earlier this month
The Kennedy Center changed its bylaws earlier this year to limit voting to board members appointed by the president.
In a new report, The Washington Post confirmed the performing arts center adopted a revised set of rules in May to specify that board members designated by Congress — known as ex officio members — could not vote or count toward a quorum. Only those who were presidentially-appointed by Donald Trump would have their vote counted. This preceded a vote on Dec. 18 in which the board voted to change the D.C. institution’s name to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
The Kennedy Center currently has 34 presidentially-appointed board members, including Trump as the chair, and 23 ex officio seats. Per federal law, ex officio members include the librarian of Congress, the mayor of Washington, D.C., the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and the majority and minority leaders of the Senate.
According to the Post, the Kennedy Center’s bylaws have not necessarily previously designated ex officio members as able to vote. However, the publication reported that the Center’s most recent tax filings listed 59 “voting members” of its governing body, which includes both general and ex officio members. A former Kennedy Center staffer said ex officio members were “always included in debate and discussion.”
“Theoretically they could vote, but our practice was not to have them vote or count toward quorum,” the staffer told the Post.
Several other revisions were made to the Center’s bylaws in March, including the wording that general trustees “serve at the pleasure of the President.” The revisions also feature a provision saying the president can be appointed as the chief executive officer and can be compensated for the position.
Almost immediately after taking office again in January, Trump moved to take over the preeminent cultural institution. In an effort to make the Kennedy Center “GREAT AGAIN,” as he wrote on Truth Social back in February, Trump gutted the center’s bipartisan board, installed a crony as interim executive director, and made himself chairman. In December, the new signage appeared on the facade.