Education Dept. Clears Itself of Wrongdoing in Pundit Payola Case

Okay, nothing to see here, folks. Move along, move along :

Senior Education Department officials showed poor judgment in hiring conservative commentator Armstrong Williams to promote agency programs, a department investigation found Friday.

However, the department’s inspector general said there was no evidence of legal or ethical violations. (Empasis added.)

The department paid $240,000 to Williams, a commentator with newspaper, television, and radio audiences, to promote President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” law. The deal was part of a $1.3 million contract the department had with Ketchum, a public relations firm.

Williams, who is black, was hired to conduct “minority outreach” about Bush’s law by producing ads with then-Education Secretary Rod Paige. Records show Williams was also hired to provide media time to Paige and to persuade other blacks in the media to talk about the law.

“We did find that department officials made some poor management decisions and exercised poor judgment and oversight,” the inspector general said. “As a result, the department paid for work that most likely did not reach its intended audience and paid for deliverables that were never received.”

The fact this story broke on a Friday afternoon is a major clue that there’s more here than meets the eye. It is illegal for the government to create propaganda, for one thing.

What is unsaid about the scandalousness of this payout is that Armstrong Williams, who is nothing but a tool of the Republican Party, was paid nearly a quarter million dollars in taxpayer funds to do and say things he would have done and said without being paid.

Bottom line is, this investigation accomplished nothing – except to demonstrate the skill and remorselessness with which this administration tells its lies. The cost of this purported investigation by the Education Dept. – and no doubt it’s in the millions – should be added to Armstrong’s $240,000 when the costs to the taxpayers in the scandal are aggregated.

Lone Voice in Red State Legislature Speaks Out

Just came across this profile in the Richmond Times Dispatch from last month of Del. Adam P. Ebbin, right, the only openly gay member of the Virginia legislature.

In his first term, the legislature has dealt with a slew of anti-gay measures coming from all fronts:

The House Transportation Committee approved a license plate that would have read “Traditional Marriage.” The Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee deliberated a proposal that initially sought to ban the adoption of children by homosexuals. The House Education Committee heard a bill that attempted to bar “gay-straight alliance” groups in public schools.

“It’s kind of unusual,” said Ebbin, who is completing his freshman term as the legislature’s first openly gay member. “But by the same token, if we’re going to have all this stuff, I’d rather be here.”

While those bills ultimately failed, another measure that generated emotional debate overwhelmingly passed both the House and the state Senate: a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex unions by defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Ebbin, 41, is described as soft-spoken and not given to theatrics, but the onslaught of hate bills into the legislature has forced him to speak out.

His first floor speech came two weeks into that session when he delivered a passionate plea against a resolution urging Congress to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would essentially outlaw gay marriage. Last year, the assembly banned same-sex civil unions. This year he spoke poignantly against the state marriage amendment and the adoption ban.

…Ebbin doesn’t rise to speak often on the House floor, but when he does, colleagues listen. “I think I’ve made my position pretty clear and I’m happy to have other people, other progressives, take on the debate,” he said.

“If there’s a bill about something that you know about, or you think is wrong and you think you can enlighten people, it’s natural,” he continued, to offer your insights. People often ask Ebbin how he tolerates what some perceive as an atmosphere of animosity.

“We’re all courteous to each other and collegial to an extent,” he explained during a recent interview in his fifth-floor office at the General Assembly Building. “Sometimes, though, the more you hear certain arguments, it is difficult to understand where people are coming from when you hear the more outlandish and vitriolic statements.”

The profile is lengthy and interesting. Read it all…

Sponosor of Tenn. Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Accused of Infidelity and Hypocrisy – by His Wife

The Nashville Tennessean reports that Brigitte Suzanne Miller is suing her husband of 15 years, Tenn. state Sen. Jeff Miller, right, for divorce, accusing him of having an affair with a woman in Nashville.

She said family members saw her husband with the woman at a Martina McBride concert.

This would hardly be news if Sen. Miller, a Republican, hadn’t been the sponsor a constitutional amendment aimed at –

“solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman.” The state Senate approved Miller’s marriage protection amendment Feb. 22. In addition to defining marriage as ”the historical institutional and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman,” it also would forbid state recognition of same-sex marriages.

The senator has “vehemently” denied any inappropriate marital conduct.

“He is very hypocritical, fighting for the sanctity of marriage and not keeping his own,” Mrs. Miller, said in a report in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

But here’s the clincher, when the amendment was being legislated, Miller stopped an attempt to include a constitutional ban on adultery.