Bush ’propaganda’ referred to U.S. attorney

October 16, 2005

WASHINGTON — Investigators at the Education Department have contacted the U.S. attorney’s office regarding the Bush administration’s hiring of commentator Armstrong Williams to promote its agenda.

The action was disclosed by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who has pressed for a criminal fraud investigation focused on questions about whether Williams actually performed the work cited in his monthly reports to the Education Department.

The Government Accountability Office has concluded that the Education Department engaged in illegal ’’covert propaganda’’ by hiring Williams to promote the No Child Left Behind Act without requiring him to disclose that he was being paid.

The attorney’s office has a range of potential remedies, from suing to recover the money to possible criminal charges, said Dan Katz, chief counsel for Lautenberg.

AP

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news...

-FlashBack-

2005-10-02

The Bush Propaganda Machine

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 Sates, in violation of a longstanding, explicit statutory ban.

.. 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."

The auditors declared: "We see no use for such information except for partisan political purposes. Engaging in a purely political activity such as this is not a proper use of appropriated funds."

.. The auditors also denounced a prepackaged television news story disseminated by the Education Department. The news segment, a "video news release" narrated by a woman named Karen Ryan, said that President Bush’s program for providing remedial instruction and tutoring to children "gets an A-plus."