PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH Message Board

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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

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To: Bill who wrote (645012)	10/14/2004 6:18:17 PM
From: Mr. Palau	Read Replies (2) of 769670

Your tax dollars at work. "Democrats Ask GAO to Probe Schools Budget" By BEN FELLER, AP Education Writer WASHINGTON - Two Democratic senators have asked for an investigation into whether the Education Department spent public money on political propaganda for President Bush (news - web sites). Sens. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts on Thursday asked the Government Accountability Office to review whether the department illegally spent money on a video promoting Bush's education law — and on news coverage ratings that gave points to stories that made Bush and the Republican Party look good. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress. The lawmakers took issue with two aspects of a $700,000 contract the department awarded to the public relations firm Ketchum in 2003. Both emerged through a Freedom of Information Act request by a liberal interest group and were reported Sunday by The Associated Press. One is a video that comes across as a news story, touting the benefits of tutoring offered under the No Child Left Behind law. But the story fails to make clear it came from the government and that the person who says she's reporting is not a reporter. The GAO said in May that a video news release that used similar tactics to promote the Bush administration's Medicare law was covert propaganda that violated two federal laws. The Education Department says it has stopped using video releases since that report. The senators also questioned Ketchum's 2003 evaluation of news coverage and individual reporters, which judged whether stories put Bush's law in a positive light. One of 11 ways stories could gain points in the analysis was by sending a message that "The Bush Administration/the GOP is committed to education." "There is no legitimate informational or policy reason for the Department of Education (news - web sites) to be evaluating perceptions of the Republican Party or President Bush's strengths or weaknesses as a political candidate," the senators wrote to Comptroller General David Walker, the head of the GAO. The video, they senators said, violates the legal standard set in the Medicare case. They asked the GAO to recover whatever money was spent on the video and the news ratings. Department spokeswoman Susan Aspey said the request for a GAO investigation was "purely politics and an attempt to distract attention from President Bush's great record on improving public education." The department says the video was clearly marked as a product of the agency when it was sent to TV stations, and that it was meant to help parents understand the law. Aspey said the media ratings were a worthwhile snapshot of how the law was perceived but had "little or no benefit as far as how we treat reporters, because we treat all press the same." story.news.yahoo.com

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