Last year, federal spending of $15 BILLION on 'Public
Relations' included $500 million in salaries
for 5,000 federal 'PR' officers.
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report,
hereRequested by Senate Budget Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY)
October 5, 2016
Forbes | 12/2015
Last year, in the
Washington Times, TheHill, New York Daily News, PR Weekly, PR Daily, New York Observer, Orange County Register and
Forbes, we launched our
OpenTheBooks Oversight Report - The Department of Self-Promotion, Federal Public Relations,
click here to download a PDF copy.
We found a $400,000 'Green Ninja' video commissioned by NASA - yes, the space agency - telling you 'how to eat.'
Watch the FOX 13 News in Tampa, Florida with chief investigator Craig Patrick reporting:
Our OpenTheBooks.com oversight report showcased:
- $4.34 billion spent by the feds on PR activities (FY2007-2014).
- $1.192 million 'ad bosses' - executives of federal PR contractors billing the agencies for $525 per hour.
- $88 per hour 'interns' - advertising agencies billing out their 'interns' to the agencies for $184,000 per year.
- 1,858 federal 'PR' employees with salaries over $100,000.
- Sheer growth in the size, scale and spending of federal PR at Veterans Affairs (VA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
This week, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), empirically quantified Federal 'Public Relations' spending. It was $1.5 billion - last year!
Here's just a sample of the GAO audit findings:
- $1.5 billion spent by federal agencies on public relations and advertising last year.
- 5,000 federal public relations officers - for perspective, this exceeds the number of employees of the Department of Education (4,100).
- Largest percentage increases in PR staff were Veterans Affairs - which nearly doubled during the decade from 144 to 286 employees.
It's time to challenge the status quo. We have a moral obligation to STOP waste, fraud and duplication.
Nothing is worse than our government spending our tax dollars to try and convince taxpayers to spend more tax dollars on larger budgets, more pay and more regulations.
We are proud of our role in helping to expose the waste and abuse of federal PR expenditures.
We congratulate U.S. Senate Budget Chairman Mike Enzi for mandating the GAO audit.
Now, it's time to cut federal spending. Cut the waste in public relations spending.