Democratic senators are promising to step up their oversight of laws forbidding federal employees from engaging in partisan politics following allegations that Bush administration officials improperly briefed U.S. diplomats on campaigning and election matters.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said he will hold a hearing to investigate compliance with the Hatch Act and investigate whether the law's scope is sufficiently clear.
"We need to reassure the public that their government acts impartially," Akaka said July 24.
White House political affairs operatives conducted at least six briefings for Bush administration diplomats, which included information about Democratic incumbents targeted for defeat in 2008, according to documents released July 23 by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They also provided a general political briefing at Peace Corps headquarters following the 2002 midterm elections.
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., peppered Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter with questions about political meetings between Peace Corps agency leaders and White House officials. During a July 24 Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Tschetter said the meetings, which involved around two dozen employees, were voluntary although they took place at agency headquarters. The Hatch Act bars federal employees from participating in partisan politics on the job. One of the political appointees who attended the meeting said she did so during her free time during the day.
At another hearing the same day, Foreign Relations Committee members quizzed Henrietta Holsman Fore, acting head of the Agency of International Development, on why her aides met with White House Political Director Scott Jennings before and after the midterm elections.
The White House has previously acknowledged conducting briefings at 15 federal agencies before the 2006 midterm elections. The Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the Hatch Act, is investigating whether political briefings occurred at more than two dozen federal agencies. Spokesman Jim Mitchell said OSC's Hatch Act unit was already investigating political activity at the State Department and Peace Corps.
John Naland, president of the American Foreign Service Association, said the reports support his organization's view that ambassadors should be chosen less for their political activity and contributions than for their diplomatic savvy.
"While the United States has a long tradition of public service by private citizens, the value of this tradition of public service is undermined when individuals are chosen as ambassadors primarily for the size of their contributions to political campaigns," he said.
The reports about political briefings came on the heels of a request by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He sent letters to drug czar John Walters and former White House Political Affairs Director Sara Taylor asking for documents and interviews related to allegations that the White House sent Office of National Drug Control Policy officials - at taxpayer expense - to political events featuring vulnerable members of Congress shortly before the 2006 election. White House officials say the travel by the officials was policy-related and not connected to elections.
OSC determined in May that General Services Administration head Lurita Doan violated the Hatch Act when she asked political appointees how they could help Republican candidates win the next election. Her remark came during a January meeting between top GSA officials and the White House's Jennings. The OSC report recommended President Bush take disciplinary action against Doan.
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