Did Education Dept. spend money on smirk campaign?

[donsu]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4551551,00.html

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Sens. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts on Thursday asked the Government Accountability Office to review whether the department illegally spent money on a video promoting Bush's education law - and on news coverage ratings that gave points to stories that made Bush and the Republican Party look good.

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The lawmakers took issue with two aspects of a $700,000 contract the department awarded to the public relations firm Ketchum in 2003. Both emerged through a Freedom of Information Act request by a liberal interest group and were reported Sunday by The Associated Press.

One is a video that comes across as a news story, touting the benefits of tutoring offered under the No Child Left Behind law. But the story fails to make clear it came from the government and that the person who says she's reporting is not a reporter.

The GAO said in May that a video news release that used similar tactics to promote the Bush administration's Medicare law was covert propaganda that violated two federal laws. The Education Department says it has stopped using video releases since that report.
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smirks spokeswoman Susan Aspey said: ``purely politics and an attempt to distract attention from President Bush's great record on improving public education.''

susan will probably get mouth lesions for lying