The Sky Is Blue
According to the Washington Post: GSA chief violated Hatch Act, report says
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has found that General Services Administration chief Lurita Alexis Doan violated the federal Hatch Act when she allegedly asked GSA political appointees during a January briefing how they could “help our candidates” win the next election, according to a report by the office.
The Hatch Act restricts executive branch employees from using their position for political purposes. The special counsel’s office, which investigates alleged violations of the law, said it would recommend that President Bush take disciplinary action against Doan, including possible removal from office.
“Her actions, to be certain, constitute an obvious misuse of her official authority and were made for the purpose of affecting the result of an election,” investigators said in a copy of the 19-page report obtained by The Washington Post. “One can imagine no greater violation of the Hatch Act than to invoke the machinery of an agency, with all its contracts and buildings, in the service of a partisan campaign to retake Congress and the Governors’ mansions.”
The report also says that her fate is in the President’s hands, but that overlooks the fact that she is subject to impeachment, like every other officer of the Federal government. This would be a nice “starter” impeachment to shake out any bugs in the system and give everyone a little practice.
2 comments
I saw a bit of her testimony. She is about the only official whose testimony approached Gonzo’s for sheer deliberate obfuscation while under oath. I almost wanted to say “Doan, give me no BS.” I have friends who are federal employees who bend over backward to avoid stepping on the Hatch Act or even appearing to do so, while Doan seems to have violated not just the letter but the spirit of it. I have no sympathy for her.
This is what happens when someone’s only real qualification for a government job is their political affiliation. She is the reason we have the Hatch Act. It was partisan political hacks like her that drove Congress to act after complaints from government employees.