Remember Armstrong Williams and the Education Dept? The Results are In! Survey Says...

Illegal Covert Propaganda!

And Bush owes you money Mr. Angry Taxpayer!

GAO: Education Department Broke Rules
Guardian
Friday September 30, 2005 7:46 PM
By NANCY BENAC
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.

The department approved spending $240,000 to have Williams, who is black, inform minorities about Bush's law by producing ads with then-Education Secretary Rod Paige. Williams also was to provide media time to Paige and to persuade other blacks in the media to talk about the law.

The GAO also looked at a broader Education Department contract with Ketchum, a public relations firm, to publicize the Bush education agenda. This effort included production of a ``video news release'' promoting the education law that looked and sounded like a news story.

The firm also rated various news stories and individual reporters on how favorable their education reporting was to Bush and the Republican Party.

"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.''

The culture of corruption doesn't care.

I exploit you, you still love me. I tell you one and one is three! You gave me fortune. You gave me fame. You gave me power in your God's name!

I am the cult of... I am the cult of... I am the cult of CHANG!

Eh, lighten up. It's Friday.

Charges Are Possible over Illegal Propaganda Media Buy

The Education Department has acknowledged that it is working with the U.S. attorney's office in Washington to investigate the Bush administration's contract with commentator Armstrong Williams. That suggests civil or criminal charges could be filed, according to Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Too bad it's looking like just Armstrong alone could face charges. This crime had co-conspirators obviously. Armstrong didn't cut himself the check.

He said he has already paid for his mistakes - for instance, losing his syndicated column because he praised No Child Left Behind in it without disclosing the government contract.

Eh, what's one more black man in jail as long as Bush gets to stay out? Am I right?