GAO: Armstrong Williams PR Contract Violated Law

The Department of Education violated a federal law prohibiting covert government propaganda when it paid for the commentator Armstrong Williams to advance its policies, the Government Accountability Office has concluded.

In a strong denunciation of an arrangement in which Mr. Williams received $240,000 in federal money, the GAO said the commentator’s work to promote the No Child Left Behind Act through his syndicated television show and newspaper columns, without acknowledging his relationship with the department, “qualifies as the production or distribution of covert propaganda.”

Disclosure of Mr. Williams’ relationship with the department touched off a furor early this year and brought intensified scrutiny to the agency’s public relations tactics.( "Department’s PR Activities Scrutinized," ...