Pelosi: President Urged to Order Full Disclosure of Covert Propaganda: Covert propaganda campaigns are unethical and illegal.

Yahoo! News - Pelosi: President Urged to Order Full Disclosure of Covert Propaganda: "January 28, 2005 | Nancy Pelosi

The President

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to request that you direct each department and agency of the Executive Branch to disclose to the appropriate Committee of the House of Representatives all public relations and advertising contracts signed during your Administration.

Over the past year, multiple investigations have revealed that federal agencies have employed secret publicity campaigns to promote administration priorities.
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In separate analyses, the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy violated the congressional prohibition on publicity and propaganda by distributing fabricated video news reports.(1)

An investigative report by USA Today revealed that the Department of Education (news - web sites) paid a conservative commentator to support the No Child Left Behind Act in television and radio appearances.(2)

Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported the Department of Health and Human Services had a contract with a syndicated columnist who promoted the President's marriage initiative.(3)

A newly released congressional report found that public relations spending has more than doubled during the Bush Administration.(4)

And today, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and Salon.com reported that the Department of Health and Human Services paid another conservative commentator thousands of dollars to support the marriage initiative, including by speaking about the importance of marriage to churches and community organizations.(5)
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These developments raise serious concerns. Covert propaganda campaigns are unethical and illegal. Those disclosed to date mislead the American people about public policy and deceive the news media and press about the credibility of critiques of Administration policies. We very much hope the contracts revealed to this point are an aberration and not part of a pattern across federal agencies.

In separate analyses, the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy violated the congressional prohibition on publicity and propaganda by distributing fabricated video news reports.(1)"
...
These developments raise serious concerns. Covert propaganda campaigns are unethical and illegal. Those disclosed to date mislead the American people about public policy and deceive the news media and press about the credibility of critiques of Administration policies. We very much hope the contracts revealed to this point are an aberration and not part of a pattern across federal agencies.
...
It has already been nearly one month since the Democratic Leader and Ranking Members Henry Waxman, George Miller, David Obey, and Elijah Cummings wrote to you requesting full disclosure of these contracts.(6) To date, we have received no reply to that inquiry. Now that there have been additional revelations, we would appreciate your cooperation with this inquiry, and would appreciate a complete response by March 1, 2005.