The chief ethics officer under former President George W. Bush thinks that messaging posted to government websites blaming “Radical Left Democrats” for the ongoing government shutdown could be a violation of the Hatch Act. Moreover, the ethics officer-turned-Democratic politician said that similar actions taken by administration officials could violate other laws that carry potential criminal penalties, although they’re unlikely.
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The watchdog group Public Citizen filed a Hatch Act complaint this week against nine different federal agencies. They said the agencies used official messaging to blame Democrats for the government shutdown.
Federal agencies involved
The federal agencies being accused of the violations include the following:
· Small Business Administration (SBA)
· Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
· Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
· Department of Justice (DOJ)
· Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
· Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)
· Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
· Department of Agriculture (USDA)
· White House
Allegations of weaponizing federal agencies
Public Citizen said each of those departments used outward or inward-facing messaging to place the blame on Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown.
“The Trump administration is violating the Hatch Act with reckless abandon — using taxpayer dollars to plaster partisan screeds on every government homepage that they can get their hands on,” Craig Holman, a government ethics expert with Public Citizen, said in a statement.
Several of those agencies are using their websites and social media pages to place the blame on Democrats.
The USDA currently has this as its banner.
The FDA has something similar.
There’s a similar banner at the top of the HUD page.
“This is such an obvious violation of the Hatch Act that it raises the question: ‘How on Earth does HUD think they can get away with this?’” Holman said in a statement. “The answer is that the Trump administration has managed to neuter the ethics enforcement offices in the executive branch.”
Hatch Act complaint
The Hatch Act restricts federal employees from engaging in many partisan political activities to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan manner, among other things.
“It could very well be a Hatch Act violation if they are trying to influence any elections,” Richard Painter, former chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, said to Straight Arrow News Thursday. “And I think it’s enough evidence of a Hatch Act violation to open up an investigation and see if they’re trying to influence, for example, that Virginia governor’s race. There are a huge number of federal employees there in Northern Virginia who are really pissed off. And I think they’re trying to tell those federal employees, ‘Look, what’s happening is the Democrats are holding your job hostage over this health care argument.’”
Painter established himself as a critic of the Trump administration during the president’s first term. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for a United States House of Representatives seat in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District in 2022. Painter’s now a professor at the University of Minnesota.
What happens next?
In a word, nothing.
If this is a Hatch Act violation, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel would be the lead investigator. There’s a chance they won’t act, since President Donald Trump fired the leader of that agency earlier this year and replaced him with someone described as an ally.
“So, they won’t be doing diddly,” Painter said. “Normally, the Justice Department should investigate, but they won’t be doing diddly.”
Painter said the last stop would be Congress to investigate.
“Congress needs to do its job and oversee the executive branch and not just give them a pass because the executive branch is headed by a president of their political party,” Painter said.
Other violations
Painter said this isn’t a “slam dunk” Hatch Act violation.
However, he views it as a violation of several other statutes, including one that is criminal.
He said this is a clear violation of the Anti-Lobbying Act, which, in part, says it is illegal to use government funds for political purposes. Every agency listed is funded with taxpayer dollars.
“These are taxpayer-funded websites, taxpayer-funded email accounts,” Painter said. “This shouldn’t be happening, and I think it’s a pretty clear violation of the anti-lobbying law.”
Third, Painter said, this violates 18 U.S. Code § 610, which prohibits federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity while on duty, in a federal building or using government resources.
“It is a crime, and a quite serious crime, to order or to coerce a federal employee to engage in partisan political activity,” Painter said. “I have heard rumors that they’ve gone into individual employees’ email accounts and set up this automatic reply blaming a shutdown on Democrats. I think that’s coerced. They’re going into your email account with your name on it and put stuff in there, trashing one of the political parties.”
Checks and balances
Painter said things have changed a lot on Capitol Hill since the Bush administration.
“We got a lot of criticism from some Republicans over the Iraq invasion, the torture memo,” Painter said. “John McCain really went after them on that. I’m glad they did, because that was terrible, that whole torture memo business. You know, some of the Republicans were willing to hold the Bush administration accountable. It wasn’t like today.”
Painter added Democrats are similar when it comes to loyalty but with one big difference.
“I think it’s infected both political parties,” Painter said. “It’s just very, very obvious in the Republican Party, because Trump violates the law every other day.”
He said under his leadership, things would play out a bit differently.
“If I were the White House Ethics Counsel, I’d say that anybody who puts that kind of thing up there on a web page of their agency has to get canned,” Painter said.
Editor’s note: This story has been edited since initial publication to correct when the complaints were filed and the year Painter ran for Congress.
