Maggie Gallagher has been one of the leading experts writing about threats to traditional marriage in her syndicated column. Social conservatives in Congress naturally called upon her to testify several times in favor of a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.

On Jan. 26, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz revealed that during 2002 Gallagher had received $21,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for writing articles and brochures on marriage for the agency.

During that same period she received $20,000 from the National Fatherhood Initiative for writing a report, “Can Government Strengthen Marriage?” That work was funded by a grant from the Department of Justice.

Gallagher did not disclose either source of income as possible conflicts of interest in her columns or when she testified before Congress.

When contacted by Kurtz about the payments, Gallagher defended herself as being hired because of her expertise in the area. She said she was paid for manuscripts that were delivered, not for what she wrote in her columns.

As far as disclosing those payments, Gallagher wrote in her column, “The real truth is that it never occurred to me. On reflection, I think Howard [Kurtz] is right. I should have disclosed a government contract, when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it. My apologies to my readers.”

The incident comes on the heels of an earlier revelation that a public relations firm co-owned by conservative African-American commentator Armstrong Williams had received nearly $250,000 to promote the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act.

Williams had been named as the defendant in a same-sex sexual harassment suit filed by his personal trainer. It was settled out of court in 1997. Williams, about to turn 46 and never married, maintains that he is heterosexual.

Subsequent reports have said that HHS paid thousands of dollars in contracts to Marriage Savers Inc., an organization run by Michael J. McManus. He also writes a syndicated column on marriage issues on a part-time basis.

President Bush was asked about such payments at a Jan. 26 news conference. He said he was not aware of the payments and vowed, “We will not be paying commentators to advance our agenda… I expect my cabinet secretaries to make sure that that practice doesn’t go forward.”

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has asked the inspector general of HHS to conduct a through investigation. In a Jan. 26 letter to Daniel Levinson, HRC wrote that Gallagher’s failure to disclose payments from HHS when she testified before the Senate on the Federal Marriage Amendment “appears to be a clear violation of journalistic ethics and a possible violation of law as well.”

It asked “whether federal law or congressional rules were violated when Gallagher testified before Congress” without disclosing such financial interests.

“The public deserves to know if there are other ‘pay-to-sway’ columnists and opinion leaders on the Bush administration payroll,” said HRC political director Winnie Stachelberg.

“Maggie Gallagher is perhaps the best known advocate for marriage discrimination against gay families,” said Dave Noble, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats. “The White House should not be shadow-funding her activities while Republicans call on her to testify before Congress as an independent voice on such matters.”