If you are a conservative commentator, the Bush administration might have money for you. If you are willing to use your public position to promote some of Bush's policies, you could earn hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money. It's probably illegal, though, so don't tell anyone!

USA Today reports about Armstrong Williams, a prominent black conservative who accepted $240,000 to promote Bush's No Child Left Behind law on TV and in print:

Williams said Thursday he understands that critics could find the arrangement unethical, but "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in."

For that kind of money, belief probably comes pretty easy. On two occasions so far the Bush administration has been cited by the Government Accountability Office for violating the Publicity and Propaganda Act — spending taxpayer money to promote a government program without telling people that it's a government advertisement. I wonder how many other instances this has been done but not revealed? It's not very credible that they would have spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars on a single minor-league conservative pundit to boost an issue that was already relatively popular but nothing on any other issue or two any other right-wing mercenary.

Oh, well, it's not as if Bush were doing anything really horrible, liking having a fling with an intern.

The contract, detailed in documents obtained by USA TODAY through a Freedom of Information Act request, also shows that the Education Department, through the Ketchum public relations firm, arranged with Williams to use contacts with America's Black Forum, a group of black broadcast journalists, "to encourage the producers to periodically address" NCLB. He persuaded radio and TV personality Steve Harvey to invite Paige onto his show twice. Harvey's manager, Rushion McDonald, confirmed the appearances. Williams said he does not recall disclosing the contract to audiences on the air but told colleagues about it when urging them to promote NCLB.

There's nothing at all sinister about failing to tell audiences that you have been paid big money by the government to say favorable things about a government program. Oh, and attacking those who disagree with you, as Media Matters has documented by quoting several of Williams' columns, for example:

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers. Their professed goal is to make public schools great for every child. The real goal is to increase their own bargaining power by ripping to shreds any education reform that seeks to hold public schools accountable to their failures. ...They are fundamentally opposed to any education reform-like vouchers or the No Child Left Behind Act-that seeks to hold public schools accountable for their failures. Of course there is no academic reason why this should necessarily be so.

President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, was designed to redress this "soft bigotry of expectations." The education reform initiative holds entire schools accountable when subsets of students - defined by income, race, etc. - lag behind in test scores. The act would withhold large amounts of federal funding to those educational institutions that are failing to properly educate their students.

No word yet on whether he ever wrote about the "soft corruption of government propaganda." Probably not, though. Maybe that's why the Tribune Media Services has decided to stop syndicating Williams' column immediately. I hope he put the government hand-out in the bank! Actually, I think he should be forced to return it. Those funds belong to the public and should be used on behalf of the public.

In a statement, TMS said: "[A]ccepting compensation in any form from an entity that serves as a subject of his weekly newspaper columns creates, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict of interest. Under these circumstances, readers may well ask themselves if the views expressed in his columns are his own, or whether they have been purchased by a third party." ... John Twohey, vice president of editorial and operations at TMS, told E&P tonight that terminating the contract "wasn't a close call" after he and four other senior TMS executives discussed the matter.

Bryan Monroe, vice president-print for the National Association of Black Journalists and an assistant vice president-news at Knight Ridder, said in a statement: "I thought we in media were supposed to be watchdogs, not lapdogs." Monroe, speaking before TMS terminated Williams, added that while Williams "has long since abandoned any pretense of being a journalist, his actions still taint those who share the values and ethics of journalism, no matter what color you are."

Not a close call? Sounds like TMS understands more about ethics than Armstrong Williams. And what about Bush? The administration continues to defend its decision, even though Williams himself finally had to admit that it was a dumb move. Democrats have charged that "Covert propaganda to influence public opinion is unethical and dangerous," but thus far President George W. Bush doesn't seem to agree.

According to The Washington Post:

It is much less clear that the Bush administration, whose policies lay behind this remarkable ethical violation, either understands the error or is prepared to suffer any consequences. In response to questions yesterday, the Education Department put out an inane statement saying that "children do better in school when their parents are involved, which is why the Department has undertaken broad outreach to help parents -- particularly those in minority and low-income communities -- take advantage of the No Child Left Behind law."

Yes, the President of the United States seems to think that covert propaganda to influence public opinion is just fine and dandy. I guess it, alongside torturing prisoners and holding people indefinitely without access to counsel, is becoming a New Conservative Value. Don't believe it? Which conservative leaders have come out to criticize what went on? Joe Scarborough seems to have been the only one to take a principled position on these unprincipled people.

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