Progress Report: Payola Part Two

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Wed, 26 Jan 2005 09:11:27 -0800

Progress Report: Payola Part Two

" American Progress Action Fund "

<progress

 

by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin

with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde

..January 26, 2005

 

 

The Progress Report

 

CORRUPTION Payola Part Two

BUDGET Down Is Up

IRAQ A Look Forward

UNDER THE RADAR Go Beyond The Headlines

 

CORRUPTION

Payola Part Two

 

On the heels of the Armstrong Williams scandal, the contractual

obligations of another commentator cheerleader have been exposed. In

2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher staunchly defended the

Bush marriage initiative in any venue that would give her space

without disclosing that she was under a $20,000-plus contract with the

Department of Health and Human Services to promote the proposal. She

" received an additional $20,000 from the Bush Administration " for

authoring a report, " titled 'Can Government Strengthen Marriage?', for

a private organization. " In one of her columns, Gallagher goes on to

plug this same policy brief and encourages HHS to implement it, of

course, without mentioning her financial connection. After the

Armstrong Williams debacle, White House Press Secretary Scott

McClellan rebuffed questions about whether there were additional

commentators on the government dole, saying, " I'm not aware of any

others that are under contract. "

 

YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR: The department certainly got its money's

worth. Gallagher commissioned polls to contradict other columnists who

had found the public was not fond of the Bush marriage initiative,

suggested that marriage education programs reduce divorce and domestic

violence, repeatedly advocated the Bush marriage initiative and

attacked its critics, and went so far as to state that the future

prosperity of our nation depends on our appreciation of marriage.

Though Gallagher makes the argument that the contract was for specific

work to be done, and thus not the same as the one under which

Armstrong Williams was placed, the contract apparently puts no limit

on the " variety of activities " in which Gallagher can be engaged on

its behalf. After originally questioning whether or not the situation

was an issue of journalistic ethics in the first place, Gallagher has

" apologized " by claiming that she had forgotten about the contract.

 

TAKE ACTION: E-mail Lee Salem – executive vice president for print

syndication at Universal Press Syndicate – and tell him that Gallagher

has violated the trust of her readers and destroyed her credibility.

Demand UPS immediately stop distributing her column.

 

BUDGET

Down Is Up

 

Another year, another record deficit. The federal budget deficit will

reach a record $448 billion this year, exceeding last year's record of

$412 billion. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office

(CBO), " the long-term outlook for the US budget deficit has

deteriorated since the end of last year. " For most Americans these

enormous, persistent deficits would be cause for concern. But not for

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. According to McClellan,

the new numbers show " we are on track. "

 

THE SHELL GAME EXPOSED: Astoundingly, the White House seized on the

CBO numbers as proof that the president would meet his goal to cut the

deficit in half by 2009. Here is how it works. The administration

takes the CBO's baseline 2009 deficit projection, which excludes

funding for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the administration's

$2.5 trillion proposal to extend tax cuts, and the administration's $2

trillion Social Security package. Because of these exclusions, even

the CBO admits its long-term budget numbers are " misleading. " But even

if you take the CBO's misleading 2009 deficit projection and compare

it to the actual 2004 deficit, Bush will still " miss his goal. " So the

administration takes the misleading 2009 projection and compares it to

the higher deficit projections for 2004 it predicted last February,

but which never actually materialized. The February numbers, however,

" artificially inflated the projected deficit for 2004, apparently so

that subsequent downward adjustments in the deficit estimate could be

presented as progress. " The bottom line: there is no way the

administration can pursue its current policies and cut the deficit in

half by 2009.

 

IT'S THE TAX CUTS, STUPID: The deficit could be reduced by more than

half this year if the administration would roll back its tax cuts for

the wealthy. An analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy

priorities found there have been $504 billion in increased costs since

January 2001 and tax cuts account for just about half (49 percent) of

that total. Tax cuts have cost the nation four times as much as all

changes in domestic programs over that time.

 

THE ENTITLEMENT CON: Conservatives will use the numbers to justify

cuts in benefits for the poor and the elderly. Using deficits as an

excuse, " Senate Budget Chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH), and House Budget

Chairman Jim Nussle (R-IA), have both indicated that they want to cut

spending, particularly on entitlements. " But programs like Social

Security and Medicaid aren't why we have a deficit. (In fact, absent

the Social Security program, the deficit would be much worse.) As the

CBO notes, " new legislation accounts for about three-quarters of [the

federal deficit] increase [since last year's projections], most of it

from recent laws that extend certain tax provisions. "

 

THE GRAFT OF WAR: This year's budget deficit includes $105 billion in

war funding, up from $87 billion last year, pushing the total bill for

war close to an astonishing $300 billion. The 2005 figure includes the

$80 billion the president requested this week. The White House,

however, " provided few details about how they want to use the $80

billion. " We do know that an astounding $1.5 billion has been

allocated to build the U.S. embassy in Iraq. To put that in

perspective, that is the estimated cost of the Freedom Tower, to be

built on Ground Zero in New York City. The Freedom Tower will be the

tallest building in the world.

 

IRAQ

A Look Forward

 

Iraq's upcoming elections remain beset by uncertainty and risk. In the

midst of a large and growing insurgency, the high-stakes exercise will

send millions of Iraqis to thousands of polling stations to choose

from more than 200 political parties seeking seats in a provisional

National Assembly. A successful vote could open a new chapter in a

country plagued by daily violence and deep religious, sectarian, and

regional division, yet experts are skeptical. Violence has forced

election monitors to observe the vote from Jordan. Many Iraqis say

they're too frightened even to show up at the polls. " Do not reveal

your identity, " parliamentary candidates are advised at one party

meeting, " and stay at home as much as possible. " Despite the

challenges, however, fundamental U.S. obligations in Iraq remain

crystal clear. Here are the basic principles that should guide the

Bush administration during the tumultuous period ahead:

 

LET IRAQIS CONTROL IRAQ: The Associated Press recently published

photos of Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi being escorted to various

campaign stops by a group of U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters. Fox

News contributor Jim Pinkerton e-mailed the photos to colleagues with

a tongue-in-cheek note attached: " You'd never get the idea that we are

seeking to influence the course of Iraqi democracy – and that's the

good news here: the Iraqis won't notice such favoritism, either. "

Indeed, several recent developments suggest the Bush administration is

attempting to control Iraqi political affairs. For example, the

proposed $80 billion supplemental includes $1.5 billion for a

sprawling U.S. embassy in Baghdad to be run by Ambassador John

Negroponte. While ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, Negroponte was

" known as 'the proconsul,' a title given to powerful administrators in

colonial times, " the Wall Street Journal reported last year, adding

that " Bush has chosen him to reprise that role in Iraq. " If President

Bush is truly interested " in the Iraqi people's capacity to

self-govern, " he must take special care to ensure that elected Iraqi

officials can operate without fear or favor of improper U.S. influence.

 

FOLLOW THROUGH ON OUR COMMITMENTS: Yesterday President Bush justified

his request for another multi-billion dollar Iraq supplemental by

citing a promise he made " to stand with the Iraqi people and against

the terrorists " and to help ensure " democracy and the advance of human

rights. " Fulfilling these commitments requires more than money. For

months, billions in reconstruction funds have been mismanaged or left

undistributed. For months, military and administration officials have

repeatedly promised to develop Iraq's domestic security squads, yet

the force today remains paltry. We need to do better.

 

RELY ON FACTS, NOT SPIN OR IDEOLOGY: At the very least, U.S. soldiers

and Iraqi citizens deserve a White House that can render clear-eyed,

non-ideological assessments of the challenges facing Iraq. According

to the Financial Times, President Bush recently prompted Colin Powell

for his views on Iraq. " We're losing, " Powell told the president. " Mr.

Bush then asked the secretary of state to leave. " Similarly, a

respected D.C. political tip sheet notes that " attempts to brief Bush

on various grim realities [in Iraq] have been personally rebuffed by

the President, who actually says that he does not want to hear 'bad

news.' " President Bush cannot be trusted to develop a coherent Iraq

strategy if his understanding of the facts on the ground amounts to a

cherry-picked assemblage of bedtime stories.

 

SET GOALS: " The president must now answer the question, " former

National Security Adviser Anthony Lake writes in the Boston Globe,

" What is the political end state that must be achieved so we can truly

tell our soldiers 'Mission Accomplished' and bring them home? " Last

weekend, the head of the popular United Iraqi Alliance announced he

will request a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces if elected to

parliament, which analysts say is likely. Days later, a top U.S. Army

general declared that roughly 120,000 troops would remain stationed in

Iraq until at least 2006 to help train Iraqis. That may be prudent,

but the American people deserve to know: what constitutes success in

Iraq? Two important analyses of our prospects in Iraq: James Dobbins'

recent Foreign Affairs essay, " Iraq: Winning the Unwinnable War, " and

the December 2004 International Crisis Group report, " What Can the

U.S. Do in Iraq? "

 

 

Under the Radar

 

GOVERNMENT – GAO REPORT FINGERS PENTAGON WASTE: According to a new

report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Pentagon is

the U.S. department most prone to fraud, waste, abuse and

mismanagement, " raising concerns about the effectiveness of many of

its programs. " The Department of Defense accounts for eight of the 25

federal programs, functions or offices that appear on the GAO's 2005

" high-risk " list. According to Comptroller General David M. Walker,

the department's failure to turn around problem areas " results in

billions of dollars in waste each year and inadequate accountability

to the Congress and the American taxpayer. " In 2001, Defense Secretary

Donald Rumsfeld declared " war " on the Pentagon bureaucracy, promising

to " slash duplication, " reduce fraud and increase accountability to

American taxpayers.

 

CABINET – STICKING IT TO RICE: Senate Democrats delivered one of the

" sharpest critiques yet of the Bush administration's credibility and

its handling of the Iraq war yesterday, " as they debated the

confirmation of Secretary of State nominee Condoleezza Rice. Rice is

likely to be confirmed by Congress today, despite numerous

misstatements in her first term, some of which were rehashed by

congressional Democrats on Tuesday. Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) said Rice

had been allowed " to get away with lying, " adding that her comments in

the run-up to war were " instrumental in deceiving Congress and the

American people. " Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) said Rice " has been a

principal architect of policy errors that have tragically undermined

our prospects for success " in Iraq. And Sen. Carl Levin (R-MI), the

ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said Rice " clearly

overstated and exaggerated the intelligence concerning Iraq before the

war. "

 

GUANTANAMO – BRITISH DETAINEES TO SUE U.S: The lawyer for two of the

four Britons freed from U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, " has

said they are victims of torture needing treatment and

rehabilitation. " Clive Stafford Smith, who represents Moazzam Begg and

Richard Belmar, said he will " sue the American government. " The four

men " had been kept in legal limbo as suspected terrorists at the

United States naval base in Cuba for up to three years, and released

after extensive discussions between the US and UK governments. " They

were never charged with any crimes.

 

CHRISTIAN RIGHT – NO MORE FOLLOW THE LEADER?: Heady off the success of

their threats of the chairmanship of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), an

alliance of conservative Christian groups have a new target in their

crosshairs: President Bush himself. Calling in their debts, the

coalition, " known as the Arlington Group, " is now questioning how Bush

is choosing to spend his political capital and threatened that his

priorities would not pass unless he prioritized theirs: a

constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The letter's

signatories, who include Jerry Falwell and Dr. James C. Dobson of

Focus on the Family, also call for the creation of " a top level

official to coordinate opposition to same-sex marriage. "