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Hatch Act Report
This report has been updated by these advisories
Investigation of Political Activities by White House and Federal Agency Officials During the 2006 Midterm Elections.

On October 6, 2011, OSC issued two advisory opinions on political travel and political briefings. The advisories supersede chapters three, four, and five of OSC’s January 2011 report, and serve as OSC’s guidance on these issues.

As always, OSC is available to assist agency ethics officials with Hatch Act questions. Please call (202) 254-3650 or (800) 85-HATCH to speak with a Hatch Act attorney.		 PDF Format


Notice: The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has made corrections to its report titled Investigation of Political Activities by White House and Federal Agency Officials During the 2006 Midterm Elections. After issuance of the report, former Secretary and current United States Senator Mike Johanns notified OSC that on page 91 of the report OSC had erroneously noted that one of the three events he attended in early November 2006, was incorrectly classified by the Department of Agriculture as official. Former Secretary Johanns produced documentary evidence that the event was correctly classified as political and that appropriate reimbursement to the U.S. Treasury was sought and received. He also produced documentation that the political trips he took on behalf of candidate Mark Kennedy mentioned on pages 91 and 92 of the report were, in fact, reimbursed. OSC regrets these errors and has corrected the text on its website and sent corrected copies of the report to each of the previous recipients.

Former Secretary Johanns also disagreed with OSC’s conclusion that the remaining two events mentioned on page 91 of the report, namely the Albuquerque facility event (November 1, 2006) and the roundtable event (November 2, 2006) were improperly classified as official. Based on the circumstances discussed in the report, however, OSC continues to believe that these events should have been classified as political, and that reimbursement to the U.S. Treasury should have been made.