News-Record.com

The U.S. Department of Education is in hot water again, after the USA Today uncovered that the department paid national commentator Armstrong Williams $240,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind Act.

Williams, a conservative commentator who writes op-eds for newspapers and hosts television and radio talk shows, was paid to talk about NCLB on the air. The deal also required him to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige.

In October, the Ed Department made headlines when it came out that department officials paid a private PR firm to rank news coverage of No Child Left Behind, a sweeping school reform act.

Ketchum, the PR firm, also produced a pro-NCLB video that appears to be done by a televison news reporter. The video doesn't disclose that the video was paid for by the Department of Education. Federal law prohibits taxpayer money for being used to promote political issues.

Obviously, the issue of a journalist/commentator taking money to promote a cause is a huge ethical no-no. In fact, this may be the journalistic equivalent of Pete Rose betting on baseball.