TOPLINE
The Trump administration is facing fresh accusations that it is in violation of the federal ethics law known as the Hatch Act over its use of the White House as a setting for the GOP convention this week, bringing the once-obscure law – and its lack of enforcement – once again to the fore.
WASHINGTON, - AUGUST 25: White House senior counselor Kellyanne Conway waits to listen to first ... [+]
KEY FACTS
Amid allegations in 1938 that officials in President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration offered agency jobs in exchange for votes in a Kentucky Senate election, lawmakers rushed to codify anti-patronage rules through the Hatch Act, which, in short, aims to ensure that government works for all Americans, not just the politically connected or empowered.
The act prohibits federal employees – with exceptions for the president and vice president – from performing partisan political tasks while on the job, in a government office or vehicle or while wearing government identification, inducing other government employees to perform partisan activities or promoting government employees for their political affiliations.
Though every administration has had officials run afoul of ethics laws at some point, Donald Sherman, the deputy director of non-partisan ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told Forbes that the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has found Hatch Act violations by “at least thirteen” Trump administration officials with a dozen open cases, compared to just two violations by Obama officials.
Trump officials accused of violating the Hatch Act include White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, Vice President Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff Marc Short, adviser Ivanka Trump and senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, who violated the act dozens of times by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates in her official capacity, according to an OSC report which recommended that Trump fire her.
Sherman noted that while penalties for civil violations of the Hatch Act can include fines and removal from federal service, it is enforced by the White House or by the Merit Systems Protection Board – which the OSC rarely refers high-level cases to – leading to mostly low level Trump administration staffers facing punitive actions while high-level political appointees have gone largely unscathed.
One reason why many ethics violations by Trump administration officials have gone largely unnoticed, let alone unpunished, Sherman asserts, is because the OSC, run by Republican Henry Kerner, doesn’t perform “affirmative enforcement,” instead waiting for complaints by watchdog groups like CREW or government whistleblowers before investigating and making recommendations.
Key Background
The Hatch Act has received inordinate attention during the Republican Convention due to concerns that speeches by Trump and first Lady Melania Trump at the White House would inevitably lead to violations by White House aides assisting with the speeches – though the OSC determined earlier this month that the White House lawn and residence aren’t federal buildings and thus White House aides who take leave from work are allowed to assist. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s convention speech, pre-recorded in Jerusalem during an official trip to the Middle East, prompted a probe from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “There were parts of that trip that were funded by taxpayers that supported that political speech,” Sherman noted.
Surprising Fact
Though Trump, as president, is not subject to the civil penalties of the Hatch Act, experts claim he may have violated the criminal statute in a naturalization ceremony for five immigrants he performed with acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf at the White House, which was played at the convention on Tuesday. Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert at Washington University, told the Washington Post that Wolf violated the act by “using his official authority to affect the nomination or election of any Presidential candidate.” But Sherman told Forbes that if Trump “asked or demanded or strong-armed” Wolf to perform the ceremony, it could be a criminal offense under the Hatch Act, which he said prohibits even the president from inducing government employees to assist with partisan political tasks in their official capacities.
Chief Critic
Despite frequently coming under fire for alleged Hatch Act violations, the White House has been outwardly cavalier about its ethical behavior. In an interview with Politico on Wednesday, Meadows argued that “nobody outside of the Beltway really cares” about ethics violations. New York Times reporter Annie Karni reported last week that Trump officials “privately scoff” at the Hatch Act and “take pride” in violating it, while the Daily Beast reported that staffers flaunt violations because they “love the anger it produces.”
What To Watch For
The big question mark in all of this remains enforcement. Sherman noted that criminal complaints are investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by the Department of Justice. “We’ll see if the FBI investigates,” he said of a complaint brought against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over allegations he changed U.S. Postal Service policy to politically benefit the president, adding, “I assume nothing.”
