Editing Bush administration payment of columnists

{{Short description|Payment of public funds to right-wing columnists by the George W. Bush administration}}
{{more footnotes|date=January 2014}}

The '''Bush administration payment of columnists''' refers to the payment of public funds to [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] media commentators by several [[United States Federal Executive Departments|U.S. executive departments]] under [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet]] officials to promote various policies of [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[George W. Bush]]'s administration. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid to at least three commentators to promote Bush administration policies.

==Investigative reports==
===Armstrong Williams===
The payments were revealed on January 7, 2005, in an investigative report by Greg Toppo of ''[[USA Today]]''. ''USA Today'' had obtained the information through documents provided by the [[United States Department of Education|U.S. Department of Education]] after the newspaper had made a [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] request. The documents showed that [[Armstrong Williams]], a prominent syndicated [[columnist]] and [[pundit (politics)|pundit]] on [[CNN]] and [[CNBC]], had received $241,000 of tax money through the Education Department's contract with [[Ketchum Communications]], a [[public relations]] firm. In exchange for the money, Williams promoted the [[No Child Left Behind]] initiative and encouraged other journalists and commentators to provide favorable views of the law.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-06-williams-whitehouse_x.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050408073305/https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-01-06-williams-whitehouse_x.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=2005-04-08|title=Education Dept. paid commentator to promote law|website=USA Today|date=January 7, 2005}}</ref> Williams admitted that he had received the payments and wrote a column entitled "My Apology," admitting to the charges but writing that he "did not change [his] views just because my PR firm was receiving paid advertising promoting the No Child Left Behind Act."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://townhall.com/columnists/armstrongwilliams/2005/01/10/my-apology-n996359|title=My Apology|website=Townhall.com|date=January 10, 2005}}</ref> Williams' column was cancelled by the [[Tribune Company]], which had previously syndicated his work.

===Maggie Gallagher===
A second syndicated columnist, [[Maggie Gallagher]], was revealed to have also accepted public funds from the Bush administration. An article by Howard Kurtz of ''[[The Washington Post]]'' first reported on January 26 that Gallagher had received $41,500 in two federal contracts from the [[United States Department of Health and Human Services|Department of Health and Human Services]] for authoring brochures, a magazine article and a report and briefing government employees in support of Bush's marriage initiative, which redirected [[Welfare (financial aid)|welfare]] funds, previously used to reward states for lowering out-of-wedlock child birth rates, to pay for premarital counseling and [[Sex education|abstinence education]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2005/01/26/writer-backing-bush-plan-had-gotten-federal-contract/2439eacb-8548-4417-a770-0ae690bb8b15/|title=Writer Backing Bush Plan Had Gotten Federal Contract|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 26, 2005|access-date=July 2, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.townhall.com/columnists/maggiegallagher/mg20050126.shtml|title=A question of disclosure|website=Townhall.com|date=January 26, 2005}}</ref>

===Michael McManus===
[[Michael McManus (columnist)|Michael McManus]] is the third person to be implicated, in an article by Tom Hamburger of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' on January 28. It was revealed that McManus, who is a self-described marriage advocate and writes the "Ethics & Religion" column that appears in 50 regional newspapers, was paid through a subcontractor with a consulting firm that does work for the Department of Health and Human Services. The payments were said to be $4,000 plus travel expenses, with an additional $49,000 paid to his organization, Marriage Savers Inc.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-28-na-pr28-story.html|title=Federal Contracts With Columnists Prompt Change in Policy|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=January 28, 2005|access-date=July 2, 2024}}</ref>

==Bush's response==
The president responded to the ensuing scandal by denying any taxpayer money was used to pay columnists and stating that any such action is forbidden under his administration.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/politics/bush-prohibits-paying-of-commentators.html|title=Bush Prohibits Paying of Commentators|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 27, 2005|access-date=July 2, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-keep-pundits-off-fed-payroll/|title=Bush: Keep Pundits Off Fed Payroll|website=CBS News|date=January 27, 2005|access-date=July 2, 2024}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:George W. Bush administration controversies]]
[[Category:Propaganda in the United States]]
[[Category:Presidential scandals in the United States]]
[[Category:Journalistic scandals]]
[[Category:2005 controversies in the United States]]