President Biden’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development violated the federal Hatch Act when she weighed in on the 2022 Ohio Senate election, reports said.
In a letter Thursday, the Office of Special Counsel gave HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge a slap on the wrist for mixing politics with her official position over comments she made during a March 18 press conference at the White House.
Fudge got off with a warning this time because she had acknowledged she shouldn’t have made the comments, Politico reported.
“Please note that Secretary Fudge has been advised that if in the future she engages in prohibited political activity we will consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law that could result in further action,” said the letter, signed by Ana Galindo-Marrone, chief of the office’s Hatch Act Unit.
The letter, obtained by Axios, was addressed to the executive director of Americans for Public Trust, the conservative watchdog group whose March complaint sparked the investigation.
The probe focused on several answers Fudge gave to reporters who were attending the White House briefing on the American Rescue Plan. Fudge declined to answer a political question about if she had any opinion on who should fill the Ohio congressional seat she left open when she joined Biden’s Cabinet.
But then she was asked about the 2022 election and if there was a Democrat who should run.
“Oh, absolutely,” Fudge said, according to the letter.
“Who?” the reporter asked.
“Well, I have two friends that are thinking about it,” she said, mentioning by name Tim Ryan and Nan Whaley. Ryan is running for Senate today while Whaley is running for governor, Axios reported.
“I think we have a good shot at it,” Fudge said.
“I know people have written off Ohio,” she added. “I haven’t written off Ohio. I believe we can win the Senate race.”
The investigation concluded her phrasing showed support for the Democrats. She later admitted she shouldn’t have answered the followup question.
The Hatch Act violation appears to be the first in the Biden administration, Politico reported. Several Trump officials were found to violate the law but never faced serious punishment, Politico said.
