Social Security Withholding
Documents?
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in
Washington,
Broadcasting and Cable
By Bill McConnell Feb/March 2005
The Social Security Administration is withholding documents
regarding its $1.8 million contract with public-relations firm
Fleishman-Hillard Inc. and possibly information on other
contracts, an activist group alleges in a complaint filed in
federal district court.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) in Washington
complains that the Social Security Administration failed to meet
its legal deadline for producing documents under a Freedom of
Information Act Request.
The Freedom of Information Act requires federal agencies to
respond to FOIA requests within 20 days, but SSA has not
responded to CREW's request. Agency spokesman Mark Hinkle,
however, said Social Security is "actively working'
to honor the request. "We honor every FOIA request. Any
delay may just be a matter of gathering all the
information.'
The request for documents was filed in January after the
Department of Education confirmed that it paid TV commentator and
columnist Armstrong Williams $240,000 to promote the Bush
Administration's No Child Left Behind program. CREW then
filed FOIA requests with Social Security and 21 other federal
agencies to learn whether they had similar contracts to promote
White House initiatives.
The Freedom of Information Act requires federal agencies to
respond to FOIA requests within 20 days, but SSA has not
responded to CREW's request.
CREW charges that the Social Security Administration, which is
obligated to act independently of White House legislative
initiatives, has been using taxpayer dollars to push the Bush
Administration's controversial plan to let workers invest a
portion of their Social Security contributions on Wall
Street.
For instance, callers to Social Security hear a taped
message warning of a pending crisis and their notices of benefits
include predictions that the system is facing serious future
financial problems.
"The SSA has been promoting the idea that Social
Security is facing a crisis,' CREW said./P>
"We know that SSA has paid Fleischman-Hillard nearly
$1.8 million since September 2003,' said CREW Executive
Director Melanie Sloan. "We don't know what role, if
any, Fleischman-Hillard has played in manufacturing that
crisis.
"This Administration has a demonstrated pattern of
misrepresenting important information to the public. The Social
Security Administration must abide by the law and divulge any
contracts that were intended to unduly influence the American
people,' Sloan added.
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