Orange County Register: Bloated ranks of federal promoters an outrageous cost to taxpayers

Our federal government is a master of self-promotion, comprising the second-largest public relations firm in the world, according to a new report from Open the Books, a project of the nonprofit group American Transparency, which has developed an app to track federal and state spending.

From fiscal years 2007-14, the federal government spent $4.37 billion on public relations efforts, according to the study. This sum includes more than $2.3 billion for 3,092 in-house public affairs officers -- 60 percent of whom make at least $100,000 a year in base salary -- across more than 200 federal agencies.

While government agencies are to be commended for making information available, agencies "are not charged with using taxpayer funds to engage in thinly veiled propaganda campaigns that are primarily designed to protect their budgets and hype outcomes," the report contends.

The Orange County Register

This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 7:50 AM with the headline "Orange County Register: Bloated ranks of federal promoters an outrageous cost to taxpayers."