And I thought Ken Tomlinson's generally ridiculous work as Bush's chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was bad before. As it turns out, it was even worse than I realized.

State Department investigators have found that the head of the agency overseeing most government broadcasts to foreign countries has used his office to run a "horse racing operation" and that he improperly put a friend on the payroll, according to a summary of a report made public on Tuesday by a Democratic lawmaker.

The report said that the official, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson, had repeatedly used government employees to perform personal errands and that he billed the government for more days of work than the rules permit.

This is actually the second instance of Tomlinson getting caught breaking the law. Last November, we learned that he violated the Federal Broadcasting Act, which prohibits the use of "political tests" in employment.

And what's worse, he's still the head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent government commission that oversees the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty, and Radio Sawa and its sister TV network, Alhurra — making Tomlinson a key person in America's international diplomacy.

Where does the White House find these guys?

TMV has more...

-- Guest Post by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report