The White House said Monday that
the case of the Education Department paying a conservative commentator
to plug its policies was an isolated incident, not a practice widely
used by the Bush administration. With the Education Department still
defending its $240,000 contract with syndicated columnist and TV
personality Armstrong Williams, White House spokesman Scott McClellan
was cautious in choosing his comments. "Questions have been raised
about that arrangement, it ought to be looked into, and there are ways
to look into matters of that nature," McClellan said. The spokesman did
not say precisely who should look into it, and stopped short of backing
an inquiry by the department's inspector-general, as some lawmakers
have sought. He noted that department lawyers have taken up the matter.
The Government Accountability Office is already investigating whether
the department illegally promoted the No Child Left Behind law with a
video that looks like a news story but fails to make clear the reporter
involved was paid by the government. The GAO is also reviewing why the
department paid for rankings of how reporters are covering the law. On
Monday, Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Edward
Kennedy of Massachusetts asked the GAO to expand that investigation to
include the payment to Williams. [more]