Rampant Hatch Act Violations

by Steve

Yes, the Bush Administration violated the Hatch Act numerous times. When will they face a Special Prosecutor to be held accountable?

White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday.

The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said.

The administration maintains that the previously undisclosed meetings were appropriate. Those discussing the briefings on the record yesterday uniformly described them as merely "informational briefings about the political landscape." But House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), who has been investigating the GSA briefing, said, "Politicization of departments and agencies is a serious issue. We need to know more about these and other briefings."

To the White House, there is no Hatch Act violation when a informational briefing on the political landscape in a government building on government time presented by government staff discusses which Democrats are being targeted for defeat and which Republicans need to be assisted any way possible.

In the GSA briefing -- conducted like all the others by a deputy to chief White House political adviser Karl Rove -- two slides were presented showing 20 House Democrats targeted for defeat and several dozen vulnerable Republicans.

Either this White House and senior agency staff violated the Hatch Act and should face a Special Prosecutor for their crimes, or this activity will be commonplace for the next Democratic president in 2009 when we use the federal government to destroy the GOP. It's the GOP's choice.