American Notes Appointees

The Copyright Royalty Tribunal is one of those federal agencies headed by political appointees who accept obscurity in exchange for good pay: nearly $70,000 a year. The board, which sets royalty rates for commercial use of records and some TV programs, has often been a dumping ground for embarrassing job applicants. One such appointment surfaced last week. The tribunal's new head, Marianne Mele Hall, 34, appeared before a House subcommittee just after Broadcasting magazine had quoted parts of a book, Foundations of Sand, that she claimed to have co-authored. The book, written mainly by Lawrence Hafstad, a physicist and former vice president for research at General Motors, is filled with quirky racist observations. Many black men in U.S. ghettos "still hold to their African traditions," it says. "They insist on preserving their jungle freedoms, their women, their avoidance of personal responsibility and their abhorrence of the work ethic." Hall told the legislators she had not really co-authored the book, only "edited" it. As an editor, she claimed, "you don't need to understand what you're reading." An Administration official said that Hall was recommended by retired Lieut. General Daniel Graham, whose book on Star Wars she also helped edit. As for her future, another staffer mused that the question is not "should we get rid of her, but when and how."