The U.S. Education Department has gotten nothing but grief since word leaked out that it had paid commentator Armstrong Williams to promote its No Child Left Behind education policy. Now it turns out the government didn’t even get its money’s worth.
A report released last week said that the department paid Williams for advertisements that were sometimes of poor quality or never reached the targeted audiences. Some of the advertisements it paid for were never even made.
The investigation by Education Department inspector general John P. Higgins Jr. concluded that hiring Williams was not illegal or unethical but reflected poor judgment and bad management on the part of then-education secretary Rod Paige and his top aides. Paige had denied that Williams was hired to promote policy, but new education secretary Margaret Spellings has distanced the department from the deal in no uncertain terms. Spellings, who took office in January, acknowledged “serious lapses in judgment by senior department officials” and said those responsible are no longer at the agency. Spellings called the hiring “stupid” and “ill advised.”
The department approved $240,000 for Williams to promote President Bush’s No Child Left Behind initiative. The contract was to fund production of TV ads promoting the initiative and called for Williams to “regularly comment” on the law during his syndicated broadcasts – and to encourage other producers to do so the same. The deal was part of a $1.3 million agreement with the public relations firm Ketchum Inc.
We take a special interest in the inspector general’s report because The Denver Post subscribed to Williams’ syndicated column for almost a year. We canceled the column when the government arrangement was discovered by USA Today. Williams has properly apologized for the ethical lapse that utterly compromised his independence as a columnist.
President Bush has said that the White House did not know in advance of the pundit’s hiring and that it was wrong. But administration officials have hired two other conservative columnists to promote its agenda, leaving one to wonder if the practice is even more widespread than is known. Higgins’ report did not touch on whether the administration violated the federal ban on covert domestic propaganda. Investigators at the Government Accountability Office are looking into that. No matter the finding, it’s clear the Armstrong Williams contract was an egregious mistake – and no bargain for the taxpayer.
