More examples showing just how low the conservative party can go. What
a bunch of pigs at the trough. They will stop at nothing to keep the
private money coming:

Taxpayer-Funded Illegal Covert Propaganda

The non-partisan General Accounting Office (GAO) found that the Bush
administration engaged in illegal, covert propaganda when it produced
fake news segments about the new Medicare law and distributed them to
local television stations. The segment featured individuals purporting
to be Washington reporters who were, in fact, "paid with federal funds
through a contractor to report the message." The GAO found that the
news segments were "not strictly factual news stories as HHS [the
Department of Health and Human Service] contends," and, just like
their multi-million dollar advertising campaign, contained "notable
omissions and weaknesses." The fake news segments were broadcast, in
whole or in part, on 40 stations in 33 markets across the country.
When the investigation was launched, Bush administration spokesman
Kevin Keane mocked the allegations that the fake news segments were
illegal. Keane said "The use of video news releases is a common,
routine practice in government and the private sector. Anyone who has
questions about this practice needs to do some research on modern
public information tools." The GAO concluded, however, that the
conduct Keane was defending violated two federal laws and improperly
expended at least $44,000 of taxpayer money. Nevertheless, the Bush
administration has indicated it is unlikely it would comply with the
GAO ruling. The latest incident is part of a pattern of deception and
deceit which the Bush administration has employed to pass and promote
its $500 billion Medicare legislation.

REPORT ALLEGES CONSERVATIVE HOUSE LEADERS BRIBED MEMBERS FOR VOTES:
This week, Common Cause released a report chronicling all of the
improprieties that occurred before and after the passage of the Bush
administration's Medicare bill. Perhaps most disturbing: conservative
leaders in the House held the vote on the Medicare bill open for 3
hours in the middle of the night while they pressured Rep. Nick Smith
(R-MI) and others to switch their votes. Normally, votes in the House
are open for 15 minutes. In a 11/23/03 column on his website Rep.
Smith wrote, "members and groups made extensive financial campaign
supports and endorsements for my son Brad who is running for my seat.
They also made threats of working against Brad if I voted no." The
following month on a radio interview, Smith said "the first offer was
to give [my son Brad] $100,000-plus for his campaign and endorsement
by national leadership." While Smith stuck to his principles, others
did not, and the bill passed by one vote.

CONSERVATIVE HOUSE LEADERS CENSORED C-SPAN: The House leadership
controls the C-SPAN cameras in the chamber. Normally, during a vote,
the camera constantly pans side to side monitoring floor activity. But
during the three hours the conservative leadership was harassing
members to switch their votes, the camera was locked on the Democratic
side of the chamber. As a result "there is no visual record of who was
talking to whom that night while votes were sought by the leadership."

ADMINISTRATION THREATENED GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES TO HIDE TRUE COST:
Chief Medicare actuary Richard Foster "was threatened with dismissal
if he released his official estimate of the cost of the prescription
drug bill," which was $156 billion higher than the administration
promised. The White House was well aware of the higher estimate
because Foster gave the estimates to them in June 2003. According to
Foster, that same month Medicare administrator Tom Scully "decided to
restrict the practice of our responding directly to provide responses
to him so he could decide what to do with them." An April 26, 2004
Congressional Research Service (CRS) report found that Scully's
behavior was likely illegal. According to the CRS, a federal
government employee who issues a "'gag order' on subordinate
employees, to expressly prevent and prohibit those employees from
communicating directly with Members or committees of Congress, would
appear to violate a specific and express prohibition of federal law."

EMPLOYEE WHO ISSUED GAG ORDER CASHES IN: In December 2003, just after
the president signed the Medicare bill, chief Medicare administrator
Tom Scully joined a law firm that represents drug manufacturers and
other major players in the health care industry who benefited from the
law. The Bush administration granted Scully an ethics waiver "so that
he could negotiate with potential employers while he helped write the
Medicare law."