Is it legal?
Not certain, I’m no legal guy. But “anonymous bloggers” posting for the government to make Obama and Holder look good is certainly creepy as hell.
Turning government agencies into a part of the Democrat Party is not legal. But whose going to stop them?
In a report requested by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D- Mass.) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D- N.J.), the GAO found that the payments to syndicated columnist and TV personality Williams violated a statutory ban on covert propaganda. The senators requested the investigation after it was revealed late last year that the department hired Williams to promote Bush's "No Child Left Behind" legislation.
The 1913 law, updated in 1966, prohibits such deals. "Appropriated funds may not be used to pay a publicity expert unless specifically appropriated for that purpose," a provision in the U.S. code reads. The GAO determined that the Bush administration violated this provision. The "publicity and propaganda" law was cited in May 2004 by Anthony H. Gamboa, GAO's general counsel, when he ruled that government videos disguised as news violate two other laws.
And of course there was the "outrage" by the Dems:
Congressman Miller has joined other House Democrats to introduce legislation that would help put a stop to the use of covert propaganda by the government. The lawmakers acted after a series of revelations over the last year that the Bush Administration has used taxpayer dollars to finance covert propaganda. In two instances, the Administration hired actors to pose as journalists in videos promoting its Medicare and drug control policies. The videos aired on television stations across the country, and viewers at home were never told that what they were seeing was paid for with their own tax dollars. More recent revelations have shown that the Administration paid one prominent media commentator $241,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind Law, and had two contracts – one for $20,000, the other for $20,000-plus – for advice on one of the Administration’s marriage initiatives at the same time that the commentator was promoting the initiative in her syndicated column. Congressman Miller and other lawmakers have asked the Bush Administration to fully disclose its use of covert propaganda. They have also requested investigations from the Government Accountability Office and the inspectors general at different federal agencies.
Read more at Exposing Government Propoganda
They issued 16 press releases on this issue, they are at the link. Wonder if the Dems will be outraged over this one? How much you want to bet we hear nothing from them but ...{crickets}. Although they may just do like they have done before..."But Bush did it!". How juvenile they are.
Not in any way. It would be a clear and unquestionable violation of the Hatch act. It's not even a close call.
Probably not. But when has a Democrat let a little thing like the law stand in their way of them implementing their agenda?