ALLEGED GOP MEDIA PROPAGANDA SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED, DEMOCRATS SAY

Several prominent Democrats have sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) asking the watchdog agency to examine "covert propaganda" being employed by the Bush administration, including actions related to the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA).

The lawmakers, including Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), asked GAO to survey all federal departments and agencies to identify and describe all contracts signed since Jan. 1, 2001, with public relations firms, advertising agencies, media organizations and individual members of the media.

The letter requested that GAO focus its initial attention on seven topics: MMA and its implementation, homeland security, the war in Iraq, energy and the environment, Social Security reform, tax legislation signed or proposed by President Bush, and the No Child Left Behind Act and its implementation.

The Democratic leaders said the request was sparked by several recent incidents, including a report that the Education Department paid a conservative commentator to support the No Child Left Behind Act in television and radio appearances.

The Democrats noted that in the past year, GAO has released two legal analyses finding that HHS and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy violated the congressional prohibition on publicity and propaganda by distributing fabricated video news reports.