`he`s the hardest working man in the ho` business`

[madrchsod]

<http://www.blackcommentator.com/index.html> i thought they would have something to say about armstrong williams and they do.

[franksumatra]

1. williams really blew it

i wonder how this story 'broke?' we need to expose them all, from rush to drudge, all are paid whores of propaganda.

[AlCzervik]

3. The payola story was by a tip and then the

reporter who got the tip filed a FOIA and they sent him the contract through the mail.

[0007]

2. Great article!

"Williams’ public promiscuity cost him dearly, causing Tribune Media Services to terminate syndication of his column to 50 newspapers, including USA Today, which broke the story on January 7."

Now Armstrong Williams, once a strong arm man for junior, can peddle newspapers on his bicycle.

[LWolf]

4. Nothing very friendly.

<snip>

Williams’ public promiscuity cost him dearly, causing Tribune Media Services to terminate syndication of his column to 50 newspapers, including USA Today, which broke the story on January 7. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) charges that the Department of Education contract with Williams “is in violation of the Publicity and Propaganda clause included in annual appropriations bills for decades.” Congressional Democrats wrote a letter to President Bush. “Covert propaganda to influence public opinion is unethical and dangerous," they said.

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) called on the White House to “rebuke those in the Department of Education who used taxpayer dollars to pay off conservative commentator Armstrong Williams in an attempt to influence public opinion on administration policy.”

<and snip>

But of course, Armstrong Williams has never been a journalist, nor has he ever uttered or written a word that could qualify as straightforward political commentary. Since 1979, when the 20-year-old signed on with his “mentor,” South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond and, later, as an aide to Clarence Thomas, then chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Williams has been a rightwing political operative for hire – a specialty he turned into a lucrative business. As we reported back in 2002: “Williams' public relations firm, the Graham Williams Group, co-founded with Oprah boyfriend Stedman Graham, specializes in serving ‘public policy organizations’ – the institutional Right. He is the Hardest Working Man in Ho' Business.”

<and snip>

Although Williams richly deserves public excoriation, self-righteous journalists of all ethnicities and persuasions are missing the big story. Rod Paige’s $240,000 propaganda payment to Williams is puny compared to the tons of cash the Department of Education lavishes on organizations pushing school vouchers and privatization – more than $75 million by the end of 2003, according to a report by People for the American Way. (See , “Bush’s Phony ‘Grassroots’ Voucher ‘Movement,’” December 4, 2003.) More than a year later, that figure has almost certainly passed the $100 million mark in grants and “contracts” to groups whose mission is “to discredit the very concept of public education.” Much of the work is pure propaganda, euphemistically dubbed “public education” on the “school choice” aspects of No Child Left Behind – the same mission Williams was contracted to perform. Among the multi-million dollar recipients is the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), the voucher front group created by the arch-reactionary Bradley and Walton Family Foundations and now feeding at the public trough. Williams was a founding director of BAEO, as reported in our inaugural issue Cover Story, “Fruit of the Poisoned Tree,” April 5, 2002. Williams’ $240,000 contract was his cut from the Bush voucher bagman, Rod Paige. No wonder he has no intention of giving the money back.