Report: Armstrong Williams Not the Only DOE-Paid Pundit (E&P)

[VolcanoJen]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054953

Here's more from the "Honor & Integrity" White House. :eyes:

Excerpt:

NEW YORK The federal Department of Education secretly paid various education-advocacy groups to produce Op-Ed columns, ads, and other material, according to a new report issued by the DOE's Inspector General.

This means that former Tribune Media Services columnist Armstrong Williams wasn't the only person writing for newspapers while receiving DOE money.

The report said The Dallas Morning News, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, the Mobile (Ala.) Register, and The Grand Island (Neb.) Independent were among the papers that published government-funded Op-Eds whose authors failed to disclose this financial sponsorship, according to Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). Separately, Miller's office also determined that additional opinion articles ran in papers such as The New York Sun.

[roguevalley]

1. Judas Priest. Welcome to the gulag.

[xxqqqzme]

2. I am shocked...shocked 2 find

payola w/i this admnistration!

[Trillo]

3. Off topic--this article had two recommendations just a few moments ago,

wasn't sure whether I'd rec'd it, so tried again and the message indicated I already had. After leaving my computer for a few minutes I refreshed this post again, the vote counter had 0 recommendations, so then I rec'd it AGAIN, this time it allowed me to recommend it.

Who's resetting the recommendation (votes for greatest page) counter?

[VolcanoJen]

4. My guess? Scott McClellan.

;-)

[Canuckistanian]

12. LOL! That Scottie is the dickens, isn't he?

The little scallawag.

[louis-t]

5. I knew there had to be more than one

Where there's smoke there's fire.

[CatWoman]

I always knew that RW bullshit didn't come from the heart

I wonder if they were paid by the keystroke.

assholes.

[UpInArms]

6. propaganda shills from this maladministration?????

Also, interesting to note the use of the words: grossly incompetent

Those words seem to be hanging around the necks of these miscreants a lot lately.

The Inspector General said the paid-for material does not constitute covert propaganda because the DOE would have to willingly mislead the public.

But Miller disagrees with that assessment. "The department is trying to define itself out of trouble by setting the bar very high for what constitutes covert propaganda," Miller said in a statement. "But on multiple occasions, education groups used taxpayer money -- unbeknownst to taxpayers -- to promote controversial federal policies. The department allowed this egregious use of taxpayer dollars to continue with such consistency that it cannot now claim that it was ignorant of the practice. Either the department is grossly incompetent when it comes to awarding grants and contracts, or it is misleading investigators and engaging in a cover up."

The Inspector General did conclude that it was improper for organizations to use DOE grant money to produce and disseminate public materials without including a disclaimer about funding, and said the appropriate course of action is to recover grant monies paid to these groups.

[AlCzervik]

7. I get the Sacramento Bee every dau and i bet i know who is gettin paid

and i hope i'm right about it becasue they are huge right wing shills.

[shanti]

10. could that possibly be....

Mr. Walter?

[struggle4progress]

11. Ask the Bee directly: Which of your columnists gets paid by the feds?

[Joanne98]

8. Somebody should investigate Christian Radio. They talk about

education everyday. Their trying to destroy the public school system.

[stickdog]

9. Corporate Pravda (nt)

[SpiralHawk]

13. Repubs use our tax money to Catapult the Propaganda & Lies

Shame

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. We should stop paying taxes! I DO NOT want MY

tax $$$$$ to be used for RW, wacko, nut job PROPAGANDA! This is outrageous!

[Kukesa]

15. Kick! n/t