GAO: Education Dept. Broke Rules (Hiring Columnist/Williams a Violation!)

[truthpusher]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/US_Presidential_Cabinet/Education_Investigation.html

GAO: Education Department Broke Rules
-----------------
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press Writer
-----------------
WASHINGTON — The Education Department violated a ban on covert propaganda when it paid a columnist to tout government policies and produced a video that seemed like a news story, congressional investigators said Friday.

The public relations efforts violated the government's "publicity or propaganda prohibition" because the Education Department contracts did not ensure that the department's role was clearly disclosed, the Government Accountability Office said.

The investigation had been requested by Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., after it was revealed that the department had hired Armstrong Williams, a syndicated conservative columnist and TV personality, to promote Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law.

(snip)

"The Bush administration took taxpayer funds that should have gone towards helping kids learn and diverted it to a political propaganda campaign," Lautenberg said in a statement. "The administration needs to return these funds to the treasury."

Kennedy added: "The taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign coming from the White House is another sign of the culture of corruption that pervades the White House and Republican leadership."

(snip)

In a related matter, the GAO also looked into a Health and Human Services Department contract with syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher to help promote a marriage initiative. The GAO said the Gallagher contract did not violate the propaganda ban "because the services provided were not covert, self-aggrandizing or purely partisan."

complete story: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/shared-gen/ap/US_Presidential_Cabinet/Education_Investigation.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. BushCo propagandists are everywhere

I'm glad one Bush propaganda operation got busted. Now for the other 10,000

[Angry Girl]

3. No kidding! And so MANY branches of gov! Articles w/ links....

This for the Dept. of Education:

In 2003 and 2004, Garcini's nonprofit group, the Hispanic Council for Reform and Education Options (CREO), received two unsolicited grants, totaling $900,000, from the U.S. Education Department, to promote school choice and tutoring options for Hispanic children. But in two op-eds in the Morning News and a third that appeared in two Spanish-language publications earlier in 2004, Garcini never disclosed, as was required by law, that CREO had received the government grants.

<snip>

Federal investigators probing the department's public relations contracts this week say the department has given nearly $4.7 million to groups including Garcini's to promote administration education priorities since 2002, but that in 10 of 11 cases examined, the groups didn't disclose — in print, on radio or in other media, such as brochures or handbooks — that taxpayer funds were used.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-09-02-educationcontracts_x.htm

EPA Paid Weather Channel for Videos
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/17/AR2005071700892_pf.html

Bush Shows No Remorse for Fake Newscasts
http://ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=28063

56-page investigation by USAF Colonel (Ret.) Sam Gardiner identifies more than 50 stories about the Iraq war that were faked by government propaganda artists in a covert campaign to "market" the military invasion of Iraq.
http://www.cooperativeindividualism.org/smith_gar_on_us_govt_falsehoods.html

Bush's War on the Press
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050509/alterman

[UTUSN]

2. Well, Duh (to the Article, not the Post) - & It Took THIS Long & How Many

$$$$ to figure it out?

[sunnystarr]

4. I'm just happy to see that Kennedy also used

"Culture of Corruption" which means it's a coordinated Dem message. Thank God they're finally waking up and creating a package label for this administration.

[truthpusher]

5. Everybody, reapeat after me..."Culture of Corruption"...

..."Culture of Corruption"...

[texpatriot2004]

6. "Culture of Corruption" that's it. n/t

[fooj]

7. Wow. Looks like we've got a CULTURE OF CORRUPTION to deal with!

Culture of Corruption. I know... The COC! Not to be confused with the DOD! Although, in actuality it's one in the same.

Peace.

[TroglodyteScholar]

8. This from the "No Shit" Department n/t

[cassiepriam]

9. I am shocked and appalled....

but not surprised.

[Newsjock]

10. GAO: Education Department broke rules (Armstrong Williams)

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/breaking_news/12785265.htm

NANCY BENAC
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Education Department engaged in illegal "covert propaganda" when it paid columnist Armstrong Williams to promote Bush administration policies and when it produced a video that seemed to be a news story, congressional investigators concluded Friday.

The Government Accountability Office said the public relations efforts violated the government's "publicity or propaganda prohibition" because the department did not clearly disclose its role to the public. The department was ordered to report the violations to Congress and the president.

The investigation was requested by Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., after it was revealed late last year that the department had hired Williams, a syndicated conservative columnist and TV personality, to promote Bush's "No Child Left Behind" law.

In light of the GAO findings, the senators immediately sent a letter to Education Secretary Margaret Spellings urging her to abide by the law, recover the misspent dollars and meet with them on Capitol Hill.

more

[NYC]

11. Culture of Corruption.

As others noted:


Kennedy added: "The taxpayer-funded propaganda campaign coming from the White House is another sign of the culture of corruption that pervades the White House and Republican leadership."

And it truly is.

[truthpusher]

12. Culture of Corruption n/t

[farmbo]

13. NYT...Audit Assails the White House for Public Relations Spending

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/politics/30cnd-educ.html?hp&ex=112813920

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Federal auditors said today that the Bush administration had violated the law by purchasing favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" inside the United States, in violation of a longstanding, explicit statutory ban.

<snip>
Lawyers from the G.A.O., an independent nonpartisan arm of Congress, found that the Bush administration had systematically analyzed news articles to see if they carried the message, "The Bush administration/the G.O.P. is committed to education."
<snip>

In the course of its work, the accountability office discovered a previously undisclosed instance in which the Education Department had commissioned a newspaper article. The article, on the "declining science literacy of students," was distributed by the North American Precis Syndicate and appeared in numerous small newspapers around the country. Readers were not informed of the government's role in writing of the article.
<snip>

Looks like yet another group of Career Public Servants have weighed in against the Rovian cronyism of the Bush Administration.

[Seen the light]

14. Make sure to get this out

This stuff particularly made me switch from a freeper to the Bush hater I am now.

[Cha]

16. Welcome to DU,

Seen the light! Thanks for thinking for yourself.

There's so much ..that if it got out would turn more people over. Instead all they get is corporate news.

From a UK paper.."The US media is disciplined by corporate America into promoting the Republican cause"


More..
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1392770,00.html

[farmbo]

20. Praise the Lord..I seen the light!!

Welcome to DU...Good hunting!

[madaboutharry]

15. More evidence that the government

is now run by a cabal of Stalinists. They run the country as if they are operating from within the Kremlin.

Iceland may not be a bad option.

[Cha]

19. It's a "Constitutional

Republic". http://government.is/

And it has therapeutic hot springs..http://www.randburg.com/is/mm/geyser.html

[emulatorloo]

17. I have been waiting for this report - kick and nominate

:kick:

[Say_What]

18. The Banana Republicans exposed again, this has been a good news week

"covert propaganda" I love it!!

[seejanerun]

21. The fake reporting isn't the only story--what is being hyped

is pretty bad, too.

Note that one of the fake news stories specifically touts Bush's program for providing remedial instruction and tutoring to children in failing schools. When schools fail, NCLB allows Title I funds to go to private and faith-based institutions that provide the remedial services. The camel's nose is under the tent--can state sponsorship of religious schools be far behind?

[rodeodance]

22. "the accountability office discovered a previously undisclosed instance"

..In the course of its work, the accountability office discovered a previously undisclosed instance in which the Education Department had commissioned a newspaper article. The article, on the "declining science literacy of students," was distributed by the North American Precis Syndicate and appeared in numerous small newspapers around the country. Readers were not informed of the government's role in writing of the article.

[young_at_heart]

23. Key sentence: "Readers were not informed............"

of the government's role in writing of the article". Why not?

[maseman]

24. Amazing folks. Simply Amazing.

When will people wake up? Iraq, dead soldiers, Tom DeLay, Bill Frist, Rove and Plamegate (now co-starring Scooter Libby), My Pet Goat, Katrina, Social Security and on and on.

[usregimechange]

25. nominated, kicked, and mediablasted

[highplainsdem]

26. That NYT story has been revised to include a crucial new paragraph

saying there's NO PENALTY for what was done.

See my GD topic about this at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4940099

The 34th and 35th replies there are about the revised article with its new title (and the NEW link for it; the original is still there as well). I didn't catch the new paragraph at first, which is why I posted two messages about the change...

[oxbow]

27. So they violated the law but there's no penalty?

...that makes perfect sense. Since when is there no penalty for breaking the law? I never thought I'd see the day when liberals were the law and order type and conservatives were breaking all the laws left and right.

[kskiska]

28. NYT: Buying of News by Bush's Aides Is Ruled Illegal

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Federal auditors said on Friday that the Bush administration violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

In a blistering report, the investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, said the administration had disseminated "covert propaganda" in the United States, in violation of a statutory ban.

The contract with Mr. Williams and the general contours of the public relations campaign had been known for months. The report Friday provided the first definitive ruling on the legality of the activities.

Lawyers from the accountability office, an independent nonpartisan arm of Congress, found that the administration systematically analyzed news articles to see if they carried the message, "The Bush administration/the G.O.P. is committed to education."

more…
http://nytimes.com/2005/10/01/politics/01educ.html?hp&ex=1128139200&en=2ca0f9a90d76f517&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[KDLarsen]

29. Good..

.. when are they going to shut down Fox News? That station did nothing but carry the pro-Bush, anti-Kerry propaganda that the White House were busy issuing.

[Robeson]

30. So let me get this straight: they said the Bush Administration violated..

...the law, yet, "The ruling comes with no penalty"...

So if - us - the citizens, violate laws, does that mean that we will receive no penalty?

Bottom line: those f*ckers are above the law.

[rodeodance]

31. guess they get off with a slap on the hand?

[highplainsdem]

37. The "no penalty" paragraph wasn't even in the first version of the story.

See my topic in GD about this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4940099

The reply I posted about the new paragraph is #34 or 35 there.

I noticed the date/time and headline had changed since the first version of the story appeared earlier this evening, but I didn't see any significant rewording at first -- I just scrolled past that one-sentence paragraph as I compared the two web pages (the original is still there), caught it during a second check.

I'm stunned that there's no penalty for breaking the law.

[usregimechange]

32. Kicked, mediablasted, and disseminated

[usregimechange]

33. Nominated as well.

[MADem]

34. More on this here--I still can't get over the NYT treating this as NEWS

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4940099

[texpatriot2004]

35. The Federal Gov Accountability Office says this Administration

VIOLATED the law...right? Which they did. So, what happens to people who violate the law? What happens to people in power who abuse said power and violate the law?

[Robeson]

43. I think thats the 10 million dollar question we'd all like answered....

...right now. Are they accountable to the law, or not? If not, then let's cut this charade, and go ahead and coronate these cretans, so that we don't have to act - or fool ourselves - into believing we live in a country in which all are held accountable for illegal actions. If these asswipes are above the law, then let's at least have this government openly say it. At least they wouldn't be insulting our intelligence, for once.

[Old and In the Way]

36. Breaking: Bush is also a liar.

This reminds me of his WMD inventory-


"At this moment, more than a dozen Iraqi battalions have completed training and are conducting anti-terrorist operations in Ramadi and Fallujah. More than 20 battalions are operating in Baghdad. And some have taken the lead in operations in major sectors of the city. In total, more than 100 battalions are operating throughout Iraq. Our commanders report that the Iraqi forces are operating with increasing effectiveness."
-- President Bush, 9/28/05

VERSUS

"The number of Iraqi battalions capable of combat without U.S. support has dropped from three to one, the top American commander in Iraq told Congress Thursday."
-- Associated Press, 9/29/05

[TankLV]

42. Don't forget the 5 Brazilian troops! That's a lot of troops!!

Bunkderboy said so!

And don't forget Poland!

[usregimechange]

38. Just sent to CNN

[usregimechange]

39. e-mailed MSNBC, is there a list of major media contact e-mails?

[bettyellen]

41. HAVE YOU TRIED THIS?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cu/cu.php?az=blaster

[usregimechange]

45. Yes, but I wanted just the big dogs, this should be on CNN front p

[bettyellen]

46. okay then, this site has em all......

didn't mean to shout before.
go git em, tiger.
:D

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=111

[usregimechange]

40. kick

[lostnfound]

44. "Buying of News by Bush's Aides.." - awesome headline

There is definitely a sea change going on out there this week.

[fooj]

47. This sounds like a question Helen Thomas might like to ask!

Don't you think?:kick:

Peace.

[usregimechange]

48. kick

[Hekate]

49. What, Brownie's not head of GAO? And the NYT prints the unvarnished?

Nice. :-) Very nice. "Blistering report" is very good. :-)

Hekate

[truthisfreedom]

50. is anyone thinking... "Culture of Corruption?"

just asking. 8^)

[WatchWhatISay]

51. Is it the GAO or the OMB?

That the Neocons want to abolish?

[usregimechange]

52. kick

[Maven]

53. kick

[usregimechange]

54. Where the hell is the national media/DU on this?

[lovuian]

55. Administration news buying deemed illegal

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=8fd4bc98d2542437

Big News Network.com Saturday 1st October, 2005 (UPI)

Federal auditors have accused the Bush administration of illegally disseminating covert propaganda in the United States.

In a blistering report, the investigators from the Government Accountability Office charged the administration had bought favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, made payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and hired a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.

The contract with Williams and the general contours of the public relations campaign had been known for months. The report provided the first definitive ruling on the legality of the activities, the New York Times said Saturday.


more...

Its so appropriate the NYT should report this when Judith Miller has just gotten out of jail!!! MS Mockingbird candidate!!!

[sam sarrha]

56. so do they have to give our F'n tax money back.. its 'MY' tax money

as they say...

[rodeodance]

58. no penalty involved-a little bad press -not anything else.

[jrthin]

57. Fine. Okay. But

what are they going to do about it?

[Giant Robot]

59. And yet another crime Bush et al have committed

that is well known and agreed upon, but no consequences come!!! Clinton gets a blowjob in office, while doing his job fairly, and he gets impeached! Like I just said on another post, I am just getting so tired of getting my hopes up for some kind of change to occur, and some of these people to wake up and remember their consciences.

As I remember a line from one of my favorite movies, "This guy is protected from on high by the devil himself."