Remember when folks were "up-in-arms" after learning that the Bush administration paid prominent political commentator Armstrong Williams $240,000 to promote 'No Child Left Behind' legislation? It turns out that a handful of liberal bloggers pulled in some decent cash this past year from various political campaigns as consultants, while maintaining their "independent" blogs. Case in point: Jerome Armstrong (MyDD) made $115,000+ from Sherrod Brown (over 15 months) and $65,000 from Mark Warner (over 12 months). Turns out Armstrong admitted this week that he has been writing on his blog under various aliases -- including 'Scott Shields.' 'Shields' received payments from the Robert Menendez campaign.
posted by ericb on Dec 8, 2006 - 57 comments

Ethicsgate continues: Today, the bipartisan Government Accountability Office declared that the Bush administration broke the law by paying Armstrong Williams to write favorable columns about the No Child Left Behind Act, funneling public funds to a PR firm to sift through news stories and gauge media perception of Bush policies, and financing phony TV news reports giving the President's education policies "an A-plus," creating what the GAO called "covert propaganda." [Williams et. al. previously discussed here.]
posted by digaman on Sep 30, 2005 - 59 comments

"If a scholar or expert gets paid to do some work for the government, should he or she disclose that if he writes a paper, essay or op-ed on the same or similar subject? If this is the ethical standard, it is an entirely new standard." So says syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher, defending against revelations and accusations by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post (warning: reg required) that she neglected to disclose that she was paid by the Administration for Children and Families Home Page (part of the Department of Health and Human Services) for consulting work inteded to promote the Administration's "pro-marriage" policies in 2002. Gallagher took a pro-Administration stance repeatedly in her column that same year. Gallagher ultimately cops out with, "I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it." After Armstrong Willaims got caught with his pants down, is "honesty" old and busted, and "I don't remember" the new hotness? (via tp)
posted by mkultra on Jan 26, 2005 - 40 comments

Administration Paid Commentator (WashPost membership rqd) The Education Department paid commentator Armstrong Williams $241,000 to help promote President Bush's No Child Left Behind law on the air, an arrangement that Williams acknowledged yesterday involved "bad judgment" on his part. I'm sure y'all check the Washington Post regularly, but isn't this simply bribing a journalist?
posted by punkbitch on Jan 8, 2005 - 44 comments