Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) just filed 23 Freedom of Information Act requests with government agencies in order to determine who else was on their payrolls. Uh oh. Liberals with balls.
From their press release:
CREW has now filed FOIAs with 23 agencies requesting copies of all contracts with public relation firms, including Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard. Both firms have contracted with the government resulting in similar controversies, and in violation of the Publicity and Propaganda clause.
"This type of covert propaganda, has no place in a healthy democracy," Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said today. "It is particularly outrageous that the government continues to engage in this sort of illegal activity despite the fact that the GAO has said that it is illegal."
Sloan continued, "The question now is how extensively has the Administration used propaganda to shore up its controversial policies? Did it pay any commentators to speak out in support of the Patriot Act? Is it paying anyone now to convince the public that Social Security is in crisis? By filing these FOIAS, we hope to answer these questions."
The FOIA request for the Department of Education is available here. CREW also sent the following agencies FOIAs today: Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, Department of Justice, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of State, Department of Transportation, Department of the Treasury, Department of Veterans Affairs, Drug Enforcement Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Food and Drug Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Social Security Administration.
