Professor James Thurber said he “regrets the impact” of placing an ad in Roll Call Nov. 4, which thanked a “long-time colleague who is involved in a political controversy.”
It is not clear exactly what impact Thurber’s actions had on the AU community and how the administration will react to the situation. Requests for interviews with administration officials have been unanswered.
The full-page ad ran last Wednesday, thanking lobbyist and adjunct professor at AU Jack Bonner for his “15 years of teaching excellence [at the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies].” The ad goes on to say, “Students of the Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute are grateful for the knowledge, insight and years of experience you bring to the university.”
The Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies is part of the School of Public Affairs and holds conferences, institutes, classes and workshops on politics. Thurber is the director of CCPS.
The ad also lists a number of guest lecturers that Bonner had brought to speak to students at the CCPS.
Bonner, who taught GOVT-523, “The Art and Craft of Lobbying” at AU this semester, landed in hot water this summer after his lobbying firm, Bonner & Associates, passed forged letters from the NAACP and other organizations to members of Congress.
The letters outlined reservations that these organizations had about a climate change bill and, according to some members of Congress, possibly impacted some to change their votes.
In a hearing before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held Oct. 29, Bonner said the letters were the work of one rogue employee who was immediately fired. At the same hearing, Bonner also announced that he had hired Thurber to act as an “independent ethics adviser” for his firm.
Days later, the CCPS ran the ad thanking Bonner for his work with AU.
Thurber agreed to work pro-bono for Bonner’s firm, but the possible conflict of interest caught the attention of the political Web site Talking Points Memo. According to the National Journal, Thurber will no longer act as Bonner’s ethics adviser.
“I think it’s best not to do it,” he told the Journal.
Thurber also said it was a mistake to run the ad with names of individuals without their consent.
“I regret the impact my actions have had on the American University community,” Thurber said in his most recent statement to the press. “This was a lapse in judgment on my part, and I certainly would not do this again.”
Thurber, who teaches classes on political ethics for AU, said this was the first time in 35 years that something of this nature had ever happened to him.
“I ultimately take responsibility for this,” he said Nov. 4. “But the ideas came from others who are very loyal to [Bonner] here.”
According to the article in the Journal, Thurber does not plan on running ads like this in the future but will instead use personal correspondence to thank people for their work.
“I have never had anything like this,” he told the Journal. “There have been articles about this, and I have received phone calls. I never am going to do [ads] like this again.”
You can reach this staff writer at cszold@theeagleonline.com.
