"The Bush administration [3] violated the law by buying favorable news coverage of President Bush [4]'s education policies, by making payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams [5] and by hiring a public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party," ruled the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office [6]. The GAO report, "the first definitive ruling on the legality of the activities," found that the Department of Education [7] contract with the Ketchum [8] PR firm violated the ban on "covert propaganda [9]." Objectionable activities include a video news release [10] where PR flack Karen Ryan [11] says the Bush tutoring program "gets an A-plus"; news monitoring to determine whether stories agree that "the Bush administration / the G.O.P. is committed to education"; and Armstrong Williams' newspaper columns and television spots praising the No Child Left Behind Act [12], without disclosing that he was paid by the Education Department. The GAO doesn't have enforcement powers, but reports to the White House and Congress.