Commentator’s $240,000 Sellout

Re “Case Shines Harsh Light on ‘Pundit Industry,’ ” Jan. 8: How can Armstrong Williams say he didn’t think about his dual role as media pundit and entrepreneur, even as he cashed his check for $240,000 from the Bush administration to promote the No Child Left Behind Act?

His articles appeared in print as the voice of a “conservative African American pundit.”

He used public-funded airwaves to blather on in favor of an underfunded piece of junk legislation designed to eliminate any creative thought -- and he’s saying he “didn’t think about” a possible conflict of interest? Please! In the meantime, we have only ourselves to blame as media consumers.

As I told my 9-year-old daughter’s class just this week, read, listen and view with a critical eye. Get your information from a variety of sources. Pay attention to the source of any opinions and information you’re being fed. Chances are it is from someone paid good money to convince you of its veracity, such as Williams.

As a public relations professional, I can only shake my head in embarrassment at the new lows to which people in my industry will sink to get a juicy government contract.

Barbara McMurray

Laguna Beach

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Once again, the administration with the least scruples and ethics in American history does things its way. It pays off with tax dollars a black Christian conservative columnist to endorse No Child Left Behind and sell it to the black community.

It’s no surprise that Williams admitted to “an error in judgment.” An error in judgment? Ha! Anyone who accepts a quarter of a million dollars in such a situation has been bribed and successfully bought lock, stock and barrel, and he knows it. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and their administration are guilty of paying a bribe, and Armstrong is guilty of accepting one.

However, nothing will happen. The administration will skate as it’s always skated through its years of secrecy and deception. But as long as the evangelicals and others of that ilk continue to turn a blind eye, the administration will never be taken to task for its incredible number of unethical misdeeds.

Steve Smith

Temple City

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To protect Americans from foreign propaganda, Congress enacted the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, which requires all “foreign agents” to register with the Department of Justice and report all money received from and spent on behalf of “foreign principals.”

As public relations counsel for many years to agencies of the governments of Barbados, New Zealand and other friendly “foreign principals,” my firm filed detailed reports with the Department of Justice every six months and clearly labeled releases defined by law as “propaganda.” I would imagine that [the Ketchum firm hired by the White House] followed the same rules for its foreign principals.

Now that we have been repeatedly warned that successive administrations are severely challenged when it comes to their principles, is it not about time for Congress to protect the American taxpayer from politically motivated domestic propaganda and charlatans such as Armstrong Williams?

Peter L. Rothholz

Santa Monica

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Great Goebbels’ ghost! The Bush administration has paid an “independent commentator,” Armstrong Williams, $240,000 to push its agenda. What a surprise!

Considering how many other supposedly “independent” commentators are out there in the conservative media, I think we just may have been given a clue as to how President Bush turned a budget surplus into a $7-trillion debt so quickly.

Richard Mallery

North Hollywood

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I always wondered how such idiotic statements could be made by conservative talk radio. Now we know -- the government pays them.

Norwood Price

Burbank