More “Efficiency” by House Republicans

The Bush Administration and House Republicans have a new plan for keeping control of Congress - taxpayer-subsidized propaganda. 35 Republicans spent three-and-half hours yesterday on the terrace of a Congressional office building recording “public service announcements” explaining what the government is doing in response to Katrina (and hyping themselves of course.) Dozens of Republicans were also scheduled to shoot public service announcements today with Mark McClellan, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, explaining how to apply for the government’s new Medicare prescription-drug benefit. (McClellan, by the way, is the brother of the White House press secretary, Scott McClellan.)

Participating Republicans will receive a broadcast-quality videocassette, a DVD and an Internet file, which they can post on their office websites and distribute to local media outlets. Local television and cable stations are, of course, often required to run a certain number of public-service spots each year to maintain their license.

According to The Hill, future ads could include spots with “America’s Most Wanted” creator John Walsh talking about child safety and an anti-drunk-driving campaign with former Rep. Susan Molinari (R-N.Y.).

The effort is being organized by the House Republican Conference, which receives both voluntary campaign donations and taxpayer money. It’s unclear whether or not they used taxpayer money to make the ads, but they definitely used a government building and at least one federal employee. Since campaign contributions are hard to raise and usually devoted to direct campaign expenses, I'm willing to bet House Republicans used taxpayer money. Also, disguising these promotional ads as public service ads and forcing the media to run them for free is outrageous, not to mention an unfair advantage over political challengers.