GAO Stands Firm on Williams Contract

The GAO advises the US Department of Education that it was not proper to use taxpayer monies for a contract with Armstrong Williams and a newspaper story entitled "Parents Want Science Classes That Make the Grade." Note that the Williams fiasco was first reported in January 2005. One wonders at the tenacious insistance that DOE is acting honorably and legally.

This latest GAO missive is in response to a September 2005 decision:

We find that the Department contracted for Armstrong Williams to comment regularly on the No Child Left Behind Act without assuring that the Department’s role was disclosed to the targeted audiences. This violated the publicity or propaganda prohibition for fiscal year 2004 because it amounted to covert propaganda. As a result of this violation, the Department also violated the Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. sect. 1341...

In previous opinions and decisions, we have found “materials . . . prepared by an agency or its contractors at the behest of the agency and circulated as the ostensible position of parties outside the agency” amount to covert propaganda that violates the prohibition. B‑229257, June 10, 1988. A critical element of this violation is the concealment of, or failure to disclose, the agency’s role in sponsoring the material. E.g., B-303495, Jan. 5, 2005...

In this case, the Department directed Ketchum to subcontract for Armstrong Williams to convey a message to the public on behalf of the government without disclosing to the public that the messengers were acting on the government’s behalf and in return for the payment of public funds. The Statements of Work for both task orders explicitly stipulated that “Ketchum shall arrange for Mr. Williams to regularly comment upon NCLB.” Talbert Letter, Exhibit Nos. 3 and 5. The Statements of Work also required Mr. Williams to “utilize his long term working relationship with America’s Black Forum . . . to encourage the producers to periodically address the No Child Left Behind Act.” Id.

What is covert propaganda?

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