The non-partisan General Accounting Office (GAO) found that the Bush administration engaged in illegal, covert propaganda when it produced fake news segments about the new Medicare law and distributed them to local television stations. The segment featured individuals purporting to be Washington reporters who were, in fact, "paid with federal funds through a contractor to report the message." The GAO found that the news segments were "not strictly factual news stories as HHS [the Department of Health and Human Service] contends," and, just like their multi-million dollar advertising campaign, contained "notable omissions and weaknesses." The fake news segments were broadcast, in whole or in part, on 40 stations in 33 markets across the country. When the investigation was launched, Bush administration spokesman Kevin Keane mocked the allegations that the fake news segments were illegal. Keane said "The use of video news releases is a common, routine practice in government and the private sector. Anyone who has questions about this practice needs to do some research on modern public information tools." The GAO concluded, however, that the conduct Keane was defending violated two federal laws and improperly expended at least $44,000 of taxpayer money. Nevertheless, the Bush administration has indicated it is unlikely it would comply with the GAO ruling. The latest incident is part of a pattern of deception and deceit which the Bush administration has employed to pass and promote its $500 billion Medicare legislation.
REPORT ALLEGES CONSERVATIVE HOUSE LEADERS BRIBED MEMBERS FOR VOTES: This week, Common Cause released a report chronicling all of the improprieties that occurred before and after the passage of the Bush administration's Medicare bill. Perhaps most disturbing: conservative leaders in the House held the vote on the Medicare bill open for 3 hours in the middle of the night while they pressured Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI) and others to switch their votes. Normally, votes in the House are open for 15 minutes. In a 11/23/03 column on his website Rep. Smith wrote, "members and groups made extensive financial campaign supports and endorsements for my son Brad who is running for my seat. They also made threats of working against Brad if I voted no." The following month on a radio interview, Smith said "the first offer was to give [my son Brad] $100,000-plus for his campaign and endorsement by national leadership." While Smith stuck to his principles, others did not, and the bill passed by one vote.
CONSERVATIVE HOUSE LEADERS CENSORED C-SPAN: The House leadership controls the C-SPAN cameras in the chamber. Normally, during a vote, the camera constantly pans side to side monitoring floor activity. But during the three hours the conservative leadership was harassing members to switch their votes, the camera was locked on the Democratic side of the chamber. As a result "there is no visual record of who was talking to whom that night while votes were sought by the leadership."
ADMINISTRATION THREATENED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES TO HIDE TRUE COST: Chief Medicare actuary Richard Foster "was threatened with dismissal if he released his official estimate of the cost of the prescription drug bill," which was $156 billion higher than the administration promised. The White House was well aware of the higher estimate because Foster gave the estimates to them in June 2003. According to Foster, that same month Medicare administrator Tom Scully "decided to restrict the practice of our responding directly to provide responses to him so he could decide what to do with them." An April 26, 2004 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report found that Scully's behavior was likely illegal. According to the CRS, a federal government employee who issues a "'gag order' on subordinate employees, to expressly prevent and prohibit those employees from communicating directly with Members or committees of Congress, would appear to violate a specific and express prohibition of federal law."
EMPLOYEE WHO ISSUED GAG ORDER CASHES IN: In December 2003, just after the president signed the Medicare bill, chief Medicare administrator Tom Scully joined a law firm that represents drug manufacturers and other major players in the health care industry who benefited from the law. The Bush administration granted Scully an ethics waiver "so that he could negotiate with potential employers while he helped write the Medicare law."
