There They Go Again ...

by hilzoy

From McClatchy:

"Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.

Political appointees in the Treasury Department received at least 10 political briefings from July 2001 to August 2006, officials familiar with the meetings said. Their counterparts at the Commerce Department received at least four briefings — all in the election years of 2002, 2004 and 2006.

The House Oversight Committee is investigating whether the White House's political briefings to at least 15 agencies, including to the Justice Department, the General Services Administration and the State Department, violated a ban on the use of government resources for campaign activities. (...)

During the briefings at Treasury and Commerce, then-Bush administration political director Ken Mehlman and other White House aides detailed competitive congressional districts, battleground election states and key media markets and outlined GOP strategy for getting out the vote.

Commerce and Treasury political appointees later made numerous public appearances and grant announcements that often correlated with GOP interests, according to a review of the events by McClatchy Newspapers. The pattern raises the possibility that the events were arranged with the White House's political guidance in mind. (...)

One congressional aide, who asked to remain anonymous, said the investigation was revealing "a number of remarkable coincidences" similar to how Treasury and Commerce events appeared to coincide with the strategy in the political briefings. However, it remains to be seen whether the subsequent department actions were intentional, said the aide, who asked not to be named because the investigation is ongoing."

Just remember: your tax dollars were never meant to benefit the country as a whole; they're just another form of involuntary GOP campaign fundraising.

Comments

[Gary Farber]

Down the Hatch!

[Gary Farber]

Or, to be specific:

[...] these federal and D.C. employees may not:

* use official authority or influence to interfere with an election
* solicit or discourage political activity of anyone with business before their agency
* solicit or receive political contributions (may be done in certain limited situations by federal labor or other employee organizations)
* be candidates for public office in partisan elections
* engage in political activity while:
o on duty
o in a government office
o wearing an official uniform
o using a government vehicle
* wear partisan political buttons on duty

Italics mine.

I could be wrong, but I think all these briefings are at least as bad as wearing a partisan political button while on duty.

[Gary Farber]

Fouled the link; here it is.

[cleek]

yeah, well, whatcha gonna do about it ? anyone here have the authority to bring charges ?

no?

then that's that.

[john miller]

But, didn't Gore use the phones?

Obviously, the Dems are just as bad.

[Equal Opportunity Cynic]

But really, the problem people have with the GOP is that they're so committed to laissez-faire, small government libertarian principles....

*rolling my eyes*

[KCinDC]

EOC, what's the problem? The Hatch Act is clearly an example of burdensome regulation that must be eliminated for true competition between the political parties.

[Equal Opportunity Cynic]

Well, I'd be all for eliminating the Hatch Act... once we have so few federal employees that it doesn't matter. ;-)

[Ugh]

There was a big controversy at Treasury during the 2004 election when certain folks there were asked to analyze Kerry's economic plan (can't remember if they were also asked to critique it), causing a big investigation into whether that violated the Hatch (no, of course).

[Gary Farber]

"yeah, well, whatcha gonna do about it ? anyone here have the authority to bring charges ?"

Well, that isn't possible, which brings up a newly crucial point:

[...] Violations of the Hatch Act are treated as administrative, not criminal, matters, and punishment for violations ranges from suspension to termination. The administration has not taken any action against Doan.

Even so, the Hatch Act "is an important statute and it needs to be enforced," said James Mitchell, spokesman for the Office of Special Counsel. "One of the effects we hope our investigations will have is to deter violations during the upcoming election cycle."

This crowd is so politically corrupt, that new penalties have to be invented that were previously unnecessary. Obviously, violations of the Hatch Act must now be made criminal acts, punishable by fine and jail. Congress should move immediately.

[Nell]

Individual violations of the Hatch Act are sensibly treated as administrative matters. But massive, systematic flouting? Doesn't that at some point reach the point of criminality?

Well, what it is, is impeachable.

[john miller]

Treasury also caused a minor flap in 04 when at the bottom of its pages there was a line encouraging visitors to the site to vote to continue the economic policies that were having such a positive effect on the country.

[Gary Farber]

Long follow-up: How Rove Directed Federal Assets for GOP Gains.