Waxman"Hatches" Another Investigation

The Hatch Act was enacted in 1939 to prohibit political activities by Government employees.This was done because of abuses by Democrats who used the power of their positions for political gain. The Hatch act has been altered somewhat over the years to permit more civil servants to engage in political activity, but there is still a big list of do's and donts that have to be followed. Violations of the Hatch Act can result in penalties ranging from a 30 day suspension to loss of job. The Act was necessary in 1939 and is still necessary today to ensure that the "peoples business" is done fairly without any regard for political gain.
http://www.osc.gov/ha_fed.htm

Henry Waxman(D-CA), Chair of the House Oversight Committee, is investigating yet another example wrongdoing on the part of the Republican administration, which appears to be a clear violation of the Hatch Act.

On January 26, 2007, J.Scott Jennings, an aide to Karl Rove, met with Lurita Doan, head of the General Services Administration, and 40 GOP political appointees at the GSA headquarters and made a slide presentation showing the GOP's top targeted races in the 2008 elections, along with the Republican strategy in each of those races. Lurita Doan then asked those attending how GSA resources could be used to help the Republican candidates. The ensuing discussion included such things as finding ways to exclude Nancy Pelosi from appearing at a courthouse opening in San Francisco while including a Republican Senator.

This kind of activity is patently illegal, as Goverment employees are not allowed to engage in partisan political activity on government property or on government time. Here are different links to describe this meeting and what Rep. Waxman is doing.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Waxman_requests_documents_from_Rove_regarding_0329.html

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/White_House_Power_Point_slides_target_0330.html

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/07/gsa-illegal/

Lurita Doan testified before Waxman's committee on March 30, and as you might expect, has the worst memory when it comes to illegal acts.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/28/lurita-cookies-doan/

Doan is a real piece of work. She has also been caught trying to dish out an illegal no-bid contract to a longtime friend, and steered a large contract to another company even though the contract had clear violations of GSA guidelines. The details are in the link above.

The arrogant disregard for laws, guidelines, regulations, and ETHICS resulting from the blatant politicization of virtually every regulatory agency in the Federal government is infuriating to those of us who believe that our government should act in the interests of the citizens of this country and not solely in the interests of the political party in control. The examples cited here are just part of a long string of misuse and abuse of power rampant in the Bush administration.

Our government was not intended to function this way, and it is vital that we hold these people to account.