‘Put your pom-poms on’: Report details Hatch Act violations

Some folks might need to reacquaint themselves with the 72-year-old Hatch Act.

Perhaps it should be those senior officials in President George W. Bush's administration who repeatedly violated federal law by hosting political pep rallies in federal facilities and on government time in an effort to drum up support for Republican congressional candidates in the lead-up to the 2006 midterm elections, according to a long-awaited report issued on Monday by the Office of Special Counsel.

The 118-page document, in the works for nearly half a decade, revealed that staff for the White House Office of Political Affairs, as well as several agency political appointees, violated the Hatch Act's prohibition against engaging in political activity while on duty, or in a federal workplace.

The report also implicated at least 10 top agency appointees, including several Bush Cabinet secretaries, for spending "untold" taxpayer dollars to travel to battleground states to campaign for endangered Republican opponents. In each instance, the agency classified the travel as official government business despite a wealth of private correspondence and public documentation showing the trips were political and the candidates should have reimbursed the costs.

"The systematic, partisan political activity described in this report, including strategically supplying targeted candidates with administration support to secure electoral gains, goes far beyond a need for political information to effectively advise the president," OSC concluded. "It is, in fact, the type of electioneering proscribed by the Hatch Act."

Investigators, who pored over more than 100,000 pages of documentation, identified some 75 political briefings OPA employees gave to political appointees at 20 federal agencies from 2001 to 2007. Twenty-two briefings were conducted in 2006, most between August and October in the run-up to the election.

Most of the briefings occurred during normal businesses hours -- despite guidance from the White House counsel's office advising that political briefings should be conducted after 5 p.m. -- and were held in government facilities.

OPA leadership argued the briefings were intended to boost morale and provide an overview of the "political landscape." But the report suggested the briefings were aimed solely at furthering the electoral success of the Republican Party.

At some agencies political appointees simply were encouraged to attend the briefings; at others, however, attendance was mandatory. For example, the White House liaison at the Health and Human Services Department told all HHS political appointees that "this meeting is mandatory. It will essentially be the same large meeting that we had last year about this time. So, please clear your schedule, put your pom-poms on, and let's go!!!"

Similar "mandatory" briefings were hosted by the departments of Commerce and Treasury, OSC found. Appointees who were mandated to attend briefings, or who might not have been aware of the meeting's content, did not violate the Hatch Act, the report said.

Several former White House liaisons told investigators that attendance at the briefings was tracked and the names of absentees were recorded, increasing the pressure to participate.

"Some White House liaisons requested the political briefings to 'put the fear of God' in appointees to sign up for the 72-hour deployments [before an election]; give appointees a 'pick-me-up reminder' that the White House would decide where to 'strategically plac[e] our assets' because 'we need to focus our efforts like a laser beam'; and 'keep the troops informed, motivated and activated as we move forward toward the fall elections,' " the report said.

Former OPA Director Ken Mehlman described the purpose of the briefings, according to the report, as follows: "You're able to reach out to people that on those public policy issues maybe are undecided, maybe are unengaged, and get them involved, too. This is an example of where you have the most impact on public policy, on public thinking, and also obviously . . . potential political impact."

But several political appointees appear to have taken the briefings as a call to action. For example, a political appointee at HHS wrote to OPA officials after one briefing and offered to campaign. "You said that each of us should get involved to help Republicans win/hold onto seats in the 2002 elections," the official wrote. The appointee later explained the missive to OSC, noting that supporting Republicans is what "got" him his job at HHS.

A political appointee at NASA added, "In terms of hiring preference, the campaign worker would get the first look," because volunteering demonstrated an applicant's dedication to the administration.

Conspicuously absent from the report is former General Services Administrator Lurita A. Doan. The investigation of the Bush team originated after OSC received a complaint about a January 2007 briefing in which Doan allegedly asked, "How can we help our candidates in the next election?" Doan denied making the statement and blamed the OSC chief at the time, Special Counsel Scott Bloch, for fabricating an issue.

"It is most ironic that one of the few federal agencies that did not engage in any improper election efforts was GSA," Doan told Government Executive on Tuesday. "Scott Bloch, in an effort to save his skin, did everything in his power to suggest otherwise and manufactured a story line about me that was not supported by any facts."

Bloch is scheduled to be sentenced next month on charges of criminal contempt of Congress.

The report also raised new questions about the travel of top Bush officials in the months leading up to the 2006 election. OSC cited 300 events in 2006 attended by administration officials and hosted by Republican candidates.

"High-level political appointees often traveled for the exclusive purpose of participating in campaign-related events, aligned official business travel with requests for participation in campaign events in targeted districts, or created nominally official events with targeted incumbents to draw positive attention to their campaigns," the report said.

OSC recommended amending Hatch Act regulations to require agencies to obtain payment in advance for the costs associated with traveling to a political event. Taxpayer funds should never be used for political travel, even if costs are later reimbursed, the report said.

The watchdog found the travel was not unique to the Bush administration and actually had its roots in the Reagan years. The report did not examine whether such travel is occurring in the Obama administration.

At least one Bush Cabinet member, former Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, faces additional inquiries for traveling in Defense Department and Federal Aviation Administration aircraft to six events featuring Republican incumbents. The trips cost a combined $30,795. OSC has opened a separate investigation into Bodman's use of government aircraft.

OSC did not recommend specific punishments against the individuals cited in the report, the reason being that they are no longer on the government payroll, according to OSC spokesman Darshan Sheth.

"We exercise prosecutorial discretion so there is no guarantee that an individual would be prosecuted even if there were a violation," Sheth said. "That said, of the individuals whom we would have chosen to prosecute, none are currently employed by the federal government."

OSC, however, did recommend that in the future, political briefings should not occur in the federal workplace during business hours and that attendance should always be optional. White House employees who exert influence over agency political appointees also should not use their official titles in connection with these briefings, or use government resources to prepare presentations, the report said.

Those steps, however, might not be necessary. The Obama White House announced last week that it plans to close the Office of Political Affairs and move some of the staffers to either the Democratic National Committee or Obama's reelection committee in Chicago.