Image via WikipediaGovernment reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise. From: POGO - Project on Government Oversight
[Another symptom of the politicization of the George W Bush administration on official time and taxpayer expense. -David Weller]
-- Michael Smallberg
October 17, 2008
In the months leading up to the 2006 congressional elections, the White House organized a staggering number of campaign appearances for cabinet secretaries and other agency officials, often in violation of the Hatch Act and at great cost to the taxpayer, according to a draft report released this week by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The White House's Office of Political Affairs (OPA) was created during the Reagan administration to, in the words of its first director, "make sure the White House bestows its favors--campaign appearances, endorsements, coordination of grant announcements--in the most effective way possible." Throughout its existence, OPA's operations have repeatedly tested the limits of the Hatch Act, which is supposed to restrict the political activity of executive branch employees and protect taxpayers from having to fund any such activity.
If the general outline of this story might sound familiar (astute blog readers will recall that we released an OSC Task Force document a few months ago that mentioned an investigation into OPA abuses), the Committee's latest report describes in even greater detail the improper use of executive branch resources and taxpayer dollars to assist in political campaigning.
From January 1 to November 7, 2006, during which time the OPA was headed by Sara Taylor, cabinet secretaries appeared at over 300 OPA-proposed events with Republican candidates, the vast majority of which occurred outside of Washington, D.C. Topping the list was Commerce Secretary Gutierrez, who appeared at 59 events:
You might notice that White House "Drug Czar" John Walters appeared at 19 of these events, in blatant violation of a federal law which explicitly states that the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) "may not participate in Federal election campaign activities." At a follow-up meeting, Karl Rove specifically thanked Walters for going "above and beyond the call of duty." When the ONDCP's White House liaison wrote to express his gratitude for Rove's kind words, an OPA official responded: "Yes, you guys were super helpful. We wanted KR to know exactly who our superstars were."
It's also worth noting that the majority of the events that took place outside of Washington, D.C., were deemed to be "official" rather than "political," which meant that taxpayers were forced to foot the bill. The White House often encouraged agencies to use taxpayer funds to pay for events that were unmistakably political in nature: "Needless to say, trying to save the campaign as much $$ as possible."
In a letter obtained by Government Executive, former-GSA-chief-turned-radio-commentator Lurita Doan--who was accused of violating the Hatch Act during her time in office--had some choice words for Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) in response to the report: "I note that you have, once again, initiated your unique brand of vicious, partisan politics by releasing a deliberately false report prior to an important election....I now understand you and your ubiquitous hypocrisy. I know how your witch hunts and kangaroo courts work. So please, invite me to testify. I can't wait." If it's anything like her last appearance before the Committee, we can't wait either.
To be sure, Republicans aren't the only ones to blame for OPA abuses. During the Clinton administration, the Washington Times and others reported that the OPA was improperly arranging for federal officials to appear at campaign events in support of Clinton's reelection and Democratic congressional campaigns. Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), the ranking member on the Committee, argued that "the same kind of things [were] done by every administration since Eisenhower." Nevertheless, the Committee's report concludes that the current administration's "deep and systemic reach into the federal agencies [is] unprecedented."
Nearly all of the OPA directors named in the report, including Ken Mehlman, Matt Schlapp, Sara Taylor, and Scott Jennings, have left office, which means they can't be investigated for Hatch Act violations. However, the Committee recommends eliminating the office altogether, or at least reforming it to ensure that taxpayers are no longer footing the bill for blatantly political activities. POGO would also strongly support any measure to do away with the OPA, whose recent abuses have done great damage to the integrity of the executive branch.
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