The thirty-seven page pre-publication copy [PDF] of Issa’s report publically charges the Obama administration with criminal activity. According to WorldNetDaily’s Jerome Corsi, "It charges the Obama administration with violating federal laws to advance what the Government Accounting Office has characterized as an unlawful ‘covert campaign’, using federal resources ‘to activate a sophisticated propaganda and lobbying campaign’."
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The report entitled "Analysis of the First Year of the Obama Administration: Public Relations and Propaganda Initiatives" begins:
Since the beginning of the Obama Administration on January 20, 2009, ordinary Americans have financed and been exposed to an unprecedented number of public relations and propaganda efforts. Federal spending for public relations contracts rose to historically-high levels during the Bush Administration. Under one-party rule in 2009, the White House used the machinery of the Obama campaign to tout the President’s agenda through inappropriate and sometimes unlawful public relations and propaganda initiatives. Congress buoyed the Administration’s propaganda efforts by increasing federal spending on public relations for the first time since 2005.
The Obama Administration frequently used federal resources to promote the President’s agenda. In many cases, the Administration relied on the reach and resources of federal agencies and their personnel to promote certain of the President’s favorite programs. The White House also leveraged ties to the arts and entertainment community to embed propaganda in the content of television programming and artwork. These propaganda efforts violated appropriations riders and federal law prohibiting the use of appropriated funds for publicity or propaganda purposes.
In support of his claims, Issa outlined a variety of instances that he has identified as criminal and inappropriate abuses.
One such abuse involved a conference call between NEA Director Yosi Sergent and artists, producers, and organizers, of which the purpose was to promote involvement in Obama’s United We Serve program. According to that report, "The use of taxpayer dollars and federal employees to create an alliance whereby the NEA becomes the de facto strategic communications arm of the White House is unlawful. Using a government e-mail account and government personnel and resources to host a call using artists and arts group to support the president’s agenda is a clear violation of federal law."
The report also contends that the White House used federal funds to promote Obama’s heath care reform proposals. The Department of Health and Human Resources paid health-care economist Jonathon Gruber nearly $400,000 to provide "technical assistance" to the campaign effort for Obamacare. The administration touted testimony provided by Gruber, which appeared in a variety of mainstream media outlets, without revealing that Gruber was in fact a paid contributor.
Likewise, the report charges Massie Ritsch of the United States Department of Education with launching an email campaign to promote President Obama’s takeover of the student loan program. According to the Oversight Republican Report, such actions constitute criminal abuses. "The intent of the email is clearly to create grassroots support for the president’s education agenda by inappropriately leveraging Ritsch’s position as a Department of Education employee. Because it was drafted or intended to influence members of Congress while they consider the president’s federal student loan plan, it is unlawful."
The report goes on to list details of additional offenses and abuses of taxpayer dollars at the hands of the Obama administration.
The Oversight Republican Report concludes by saying, "The White House has failed to transition from campaign mode and is now inappropriately leveraging those campaign-trail relationships to unlawfully generate support for the president’s agenda."
By publishing this report, Congressman Issa has likely sealed his fate as Obama’s public enemy number one.
Tea Partier Andrew Breitbart’s website, Biggovernment.com, notes, however, "Prior to this report being released, the ‘Big’ sites have already observed many examples of Research-Propaganda — much of it publicly funded — being spun and fed to the media to support the same initiatives.
The site adds, "there is one important issue that cannot necessarily be addressed in a report like Issa’s…. Seldom has there been in history, if any, when a sitting President has actually taken aim directly at certain citizens of this country, based upon their political beliefs…The penchant for this administration to directly attack citizens who disagree with the policies is all but unprecedented."
Issa’s report certainly provides enough evidence of criminal activity to prompt an official investigation, but whether that will actually happen remains to be seen.
