Columnist Armstrong Williams negotiated a deal to settle a case where he received $240,000 by the Education Department to promote President Bush’s No Child Left Behind agenda. In the settlement Mr. Armstrong admits no wrongdoing and pays back the Education Department $34,000 prosecutors determined had been overpaid.
Guess what the Justice Department did not examine? They did not explore the undercover nature of using taxpayer dollars to promote the President’s agenda. Congressional auditors concluded the Education Department engaged in illegal "covert propaganda" by hiring Armstrong without stipulating he disclose his the payment nature of his relationship. The Justice Department probe did not examine if Mr. Williams improperly promoted the Bush administration’s agenda. If you don’t look, you can’t find and the Bushies hate looking.
Meanwhile No Child Left Behind sits side by side in the news with that other extrinsic motivation program, stock option grants. Why would one drive widespread cheating by corporate executives over a 12 year period while the other (only five years old) has 700 Texas schools under the microscope for similar behavior?
Our elected leaders would rather keep their heads in the sand. Want to bet No Child Left Behind gets a quick renewal post election? We need to grow that next batch of CEO’s and what better way to teach them cheating then when they’re young. And if a school is suspected of improper activity, send in a team to look at anything but that. Follow our Presidential leader….
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