Bill to stop use of people’s money for self-promotion

There are better uses for the people’s money than the self-promotion of government officials, according to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who has filed a bill prohibiting the use of government funds for propaganda purposes.

Under the measure, the funds could only be used for promotion if authorized by law.

“It is a misguided policy for the state to engage in costly propaganda at the expense of the taxpayer in times when the nation’s socioeconomic recovery is the top priority,” Santiago said in her explanatory note.

According to her, politicians have used publicity and the media to associate themselves with government projects to gain political mileage or leverage.

“Since public funds are involved, government propaganda is an easy target for graft and corruption,” she said.

The bill would make it a policy of the state to monitor the use of government funds by public officials and ensure that it is not used for personal propaganda or publicity.

It would prohibit government offices and employees from making or authorizing expenditures or obligations of funds for publicity or propaganda purposes unless authorized by law.

Propaganda includes any message designed to aid a political party or candidate; any message for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or puffery of administration, agency, executive branch programs or policies, or pending congressional legislation; a news release or other publication that does not clearly identify the government agency directly or indirectly financially responsible for the message; and a message tending to emphasize the importance of the agency or its activities.

The bill states that each advertisement or other communication paid for by an executive branch agency, either directly or through a contract awarded by the executive agency, should have a prominent notice informing the target audience that the advertisement or other communication was paid for by that executive agency.