2005年NPR美国国家公共电台四月-Department of Education Probe Finds No Et

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The Education Department today released the results of an internal investigation¹ into how a television commentator² wound up on the Bush administration payroll³. The report concluded that department officials made a series of bad judgments⁵ in the public relations deal that paid Armstrong Williams 240 thousand dollars to promote the "No Child Left Behind" law. Disclosure of the deal in January brought widespread criticism, and acknowledgement from President Bush that paying a journalist with tax-payers’ money was a mistake. NPR’s David Folkenflik has been covering the story.

Joins us now,David. What are the key findings of the Education Department's report?

Well, it's important to know that the Inspector⁶ General Jack⁷ Higgins found no laws were broken and there're no clear ethical⁸ lapses⁹ in the hiring of catching¹⁰ communications which then paid Armstrong Williams. Um…He did, however, find poor management decisions as he said, poor judgment⁴ and oversight¹¹, and he found that the department didn't get its money's worth, that Williams only produced 2 out of the 8 ads that he was paid for, they were of poor quality, and as Inspector General said, quote, "The appearance is that the department may have been paying for more than just the advertising¹²." After all, Williams is a columnist¹³ and commentator who is strongly supportive of the Bush administration.

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings released a statement today. What did she have to say about this?

In some way she was tougher than Higgins. She said it was wrong. She said it showed up clear lack of judgment. And she clearly blamed her predecessor¹⁴ Roderick Paige for making the decision. Democrats¹⁵ say there's a larger context that this fits into a pattern of efforts to influence coverage¹⁶ in the news organization so strongly that it amounts to propaganda. That wasn't a part of this investigation.

And you've also heard from the former Education Secretary Roderick Paige. What did he say?

He didn't accept blame and he also didn’t attack the findings of the report. He said he would note it that he was requested in January, and that he was happy he was out. He simply said it was an episode that he regretted.

Thank you David.

Good to join you.