By Bob Unruh
© 2011 WorldNetDaily
The White House this week transmitted two union promotions through its tax-paid email system, and although both praised the president, they gave no appearance of having any other link to Obama administration operations, prompting a Washington watchdog to wonder where is the dividing line between big labor and the president.
The criticism comes from Judicial Watch, which just one day earlier issued a report that the Obama Health and Human Services agency plans to spend $200 million of taxpayer funds to promote Obamacare, the president's signature law that has been declared unconstitutional by two federal judges.
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The union promotions were from the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, and the American Federation of State, County, Municipal Employees, or AFSCME. While both interact regularly with the government and lobby on behalf of their own interests, they are separate organizations from the government.
The releases from the unions on White House email gave no indication there was any White House interaction; they simply were union statements.
"It seems like the radicals at the SEIU are writing official White House press statements. And I didn't think the federal government could lawfully accept 'volunteer' assistance such as that," he said.
The SEIU news release said regarding the president's speech on reducing the budget deficit, "The president laid out a commonsense approach to restoring fairness to our tax system. The Bush-era tax giveaways to millionaires must come to an end. We simply cannot afford them – something the Republican budget completely ignores. All taxpayers must pay their fair share, but under the Bush tax giveaways the top 2 percent of Americans are not. Tax giveaways and deficit reduction are mutually exclusive."
Evidence indicates the top 1 percent of taxpayers in the U.S. paid 38 percent of all income taxes as of 2008.
A spokeswoman at the White House media affairs office told WND that someone would work on a statement responding to questions about how it determines which private organizations have access to the email system and which ones do not.
She said, "It's not like we handed over access [to the email system] to these unions."
No statement was sent.
The other union promotion, from the AFSCME, said, "President Obama today made clear that everyone needs to sacrifice to lower the federal debt and that we need to look at both sides of the financial ledger. As Congress works with the president to find solutions, we urge lawmakers to consider the fact that we have a revenue problem, not a spending problem."
The federal USAJobs website outlines the restrictions for "volunteering" for the federal government.
"Generally speaking, federal agencies are prohibited by law (section 1342 of title 31, United States Code) from accepting volunteer service. No person may provide unpaid service to the government or provide service with the understanding that he or she will waive pay," the site explains.
It provides exceptions for:
* (1) employment in emergencies involving the protection of life or property;
* (2) employment of assistants to handicapped employees;
* (3) employment of experts and consultants; and
* (4) employment of students to further their educational goals (see below).
It also explains that for students, various positions are available ranging from computer jobs, policy or research projects, and congressional issues.
The White House also transmitted a news release from Families USA director Ron Pollack, as well as statements from elected mayors.
The HHS report from Judicial Watch, the public interest organization that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, was on a related issue.
The report said the Department of Health and Human Services "acquisition plan" details a five-year communications program about radio, television and print ad campaigns, ground events, website work and bus tours.
The programs would total "$200,000,000 maximum."
Part of that amount already is committed, the report said, to The Ogilvy Group, which is to "design, develop, and execute a multiplatform educational media campaign to promote" a new Obamacare website the president plans.
Judicial Watch noted that Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has called the HHS online program "state-sponsored propaganda."
According to Judicial Watch, the HHS campaign with Ogilvy to promote Obama "describes the 'audiences' that will receive 'targeted messaging' during the campaign: 'Hispanic Americans, African Americans, Young people, Women/Mothers,' all considered key target demographics for the Obama re-election campaign."
Judicial Watch reported that in the Ogilvy contract, the Obama administration wanted "media training" regarding "controlling your message," "handling hostile interviews," "artful repetition," "identifying loaded questions" and "being persuasive."
HHS describes that the key to success will be, "Health and program-related messages are processed by the target audience according to a particular reality, which he or she experiences. Attitudes, feelings, values, needs, desires, behaviors and beliefs all play a part in the individual's decision to accept information and make a behavioral change. It is by understanding the importance of these characteristics that health and program-related messages can be targeted to the beneficiary in effective ways."
"There is nothing educational about this Obamacare propaganda campaign to force 'behavioral changes' on Americans," noted Fitton. "These records prove the administration is using taxpayer dollars to manipulate public opinion. It also appears the Obama administration is trying to get a leg-up in the re-election campaign by targeting key Obama constituencies with positive and misleading messages about the president's 'signature' policy initiative.
"This Big Brother campaign is most certainly underhanded, potentially unlawful, and it must be stopped. If Congress is looking for a place to trim the deficit, this is a good place to start."
Also, last November, Judicial Watch obtained documents from the same agency that showed how federal officials spent more than $3.1 million on three Medicare television ads featuring actor Andy Griffith that, according to FastCheck.org, a project of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, "intentionally misinformed the American people."
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