Probe of Armstrong Williams Widens

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"Investigators at the Education Department have contacted the U.S. attorney's office regarding the Bush administration's hiring of commentator Armstrong Williams to promote its agenda," writes Nancy Benac. The Government Accountability Office recently concluded that the Education Department engaged in illegal "covert propaganda" by hiring Williams to promote the administration's No Child Left Behind Act, without disclosing that he was being paid. U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has pressed for a criminal fraud investigation focused on questions about whether Williams actually performed the work cited in his monthly reports to the Education Department. "It's bad enough the administration bribed a journalist to promote their policies, but now it looks like taxpayer dollars were handed over for work that was never done," said Lautenberg.