The top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is conducting an investigation into unlawful propaganda efforts by the Obama Administration and is asking for your help with the investigation. They've produced a video with examples of what they're looking for in the investigation.
Seen a "stimulus" sign in your neighborhood? Did you know that they are potentially illegal political propaganda, using YOUR money to tout President Obama? GOP Team Oversight is leading an investigation into this wide-spread abuse of taxpayer money but we need your help: see a sign, take a picture, and send us the location (street, city, state) and date at stimulussigns@gmail.com
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is also seeking a Government Accounting Office (GAO) investigation into the legality of the administration’s propaganda efforts. Photos of local stimulus signs would assist Issa with the investigation.
“Although Federal laws prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars for covert propaganda, administrations of both political parties have faced criticism and investigations related to abuses,” Issa said. “Using new technologies and the remnants of the most expensive Presidential campaign in history, the Obama Administration’s use of taxpayer dollars to engage in covert propaganda is disconcerting. This new report and a GAO investigation are needed to help shed light on how taxpayer dollars are being spent to illegally further a political agenda.”
Highlights of the Oversight Committee Republican Report include:
• Use of the National Endowment for the Arts as a de facto strategic communications firm for the Obama Administration. During an August 10, 2009 conference call, White House staff urged members of the arts and entertainment community to support the President’s United We Serve campaign and broader agenda, citing as models art and music created to support then-candidate Obama’s presidential campaign. Three days after the call, 21 arts groups signed a press release endorsing the President’s health care plan. (Pg. 9)
• Use of HHS web resources to push citizens to lobby Members of Congress in support of the President’s health care plan. A link from www.HealthReform.gov, maintained by HHS, asks visitors to sign a form letter to President Obama stating their commitment to work with him and “our Congressional leaders” to enact the President’s health care plan.
• Use of taxpayer money to post road signs touting both “stimulus” spending and www.Recovery.gov. Officials at the Federal Highway Administration “strongly encouraged” stimulus grant recipients to post Obama Administration-approved promotional signs which, in some cases, direct the viewer to www.Recovery.gov, itself chock-full of thinly veiled propaganda in support of White House claims of stimulus job creation success.
• The efforts of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) to support pro-Obama healthcare reform volunteerism and its efforts to “organically” incorporate stories about service and volunteerism into programming on all four major networks and many cable outlets.
