Another columnist was paid to help Bush administration agency




SIOBHAN McDONOUGH, Associated Press Writer


Friday, January 28, 2005


 





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(01-28) 14:47 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

The Department of Health and Human Services said Friday that a third conservative columnist was paid to assist in promoting a Bush administration policy.

Columnist Mike McManus received $10,000 to train marriage counselors as part of the agency's initiative promoting marriage to build strong families, said Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families.

The disclosure came as the Government Accountability Office sent a letter to the Education Department on Friday asking for all materials related to its contract dealings with a prominent conservative media commentator.

That department, through a contract with the public relations firm Ketchum, hired commentator Armstrong Williams to produce ads that featured former Education Secretary Rod Paige and promoted President Bush's No Child Left Behind law. The contract also committed Williams, who is black, to provide media access for Paige and to persuade other black journalists to talk about the law.

Federal law bans the use of public money on propaganda.

(Excerpted from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2005/01/28/national1747EST0661.DTL)