« Naughty, Naughty | Main | Of Mice & Men »
January 08, 2005
Ethics Breach?
Armstrong Williams, a syndicated columnist, and the DOE are been questioned about a possible breach of ethics.
A company operated by syndicated columnist and commentator Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 by the Education Department. The goal was to deliver positive messages about President Bush's education overhaul, using Mr. Williams' broad reach with minorities....The contract required Mr. Williams' company, the Graham Williams Group, to produce radio and TV commercials featuring one-minute "reads" by Education Secretary Rod Paige. The deal enabled Mr. Paige and other department officials to appear as guests on Mr. Williams' programs.
Mr. Williams, one of the leading black conservative voices in the country, was to persuade other black journalists to talk about the No Child Left Behind Act.
The DOE says that this was a "permissible use of taxpayer funds under legal government contracting procedures". Which may be true as far as it goes. The question isn't about what they did. It's about how they did it. There's nothing wrong with spending taxpayer moneys for publicity to educate the public about governmental programs.....as long as there's public disclosure about whom is paying for the publicity.
Even if what they did was legal, that doesn't necessarily mean it was ethical.
Shame on them all.
Posted by Rita at January 8, 2005 05:33 AM