January 28, 2005
Another syndicated columnist has been found to have taken money from the Bush administration to promote its policies.
Maggie Gallagher acknowledges receiving $21,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services in exchange for promoting the administration's proposals to strengthen marriage.
She told the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz she would have disclosed it, if asked, but she forgot about it.
That's just not credible.
Who forgets a check for $21,000?
This follows the Armstrong Williams case.
Williams, who heads his own public relations firm, was paid $240,000 by the Education Department to promote "No Child Left Behind."
Following the CBS scandal, the ethical blows continue to fall on my chosen profession.
There are too many people in this business who ought not to be.
Ethics need to be strengthened and more transparency needs to be on display among all of us who work in journalism.
No one should take money for promoting any administration's policies in their columns.
No one.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C. Watch his television show, After Hours with Cal Thomas, on the Fox News Channel, Saturdays at 11 p.m. Eastern Time.
