Legal Commentary

Administration Abuses Public Trust ... Again

By TChris

A federal law that "prohibits the use of public funds or resources for partisan political activities" didn't stop Bush administration officials from traveling around the country in 2006 to "to lend prestige or bring federal grants to 99 politically endangered Republicans that year."

[A] draft report released by the Democratic majority of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ... said the trips were freely described as political in subpoenaed e-mails and interviews. A master list prepared at the White House two weeks before the election listed the names and dates of appearances by cabinet secretaries in 73 key congressional districts, all under the heading "Final Push Surrogate Matrix."

"This is," the report said, "a gross abuse of the public trust."

Granted, there is often an ambiguous line between politics and policy, and it isn't unusual for presidents to use their office to help members of their political party. The report concludes that the Bush administration's approach was markedly different from that of previous White House occupants. [more ...]

The House committee probed the Clinton effort in the 1990's, at the behest of its then-Republican chairman, but "received no evidence of practices...resembling the coordinated and comprehensive strategy the Bush White House employed to use taxpayer resources to support Republican candidates for office," the report states.

The report traces the abuse of public funds to Sara Taylor, an aide to Karl Rove.

Throughout the first 10 months of 2006, she sent periodic updates to the White House scheduling director, as well as White House liaisons at each agency, about which candidates deserved federal agency support.

Given the dismal performance of Republicans in the 2006 elections, candidates this year have been less interested in associating themselves with White House officials. To minimize the misuse of public funds by future administrations, the report reasonably recommends that

the Hatch Act be amended to eliminate the political affairs office at the White House or force it to serve "the interests of the taxpayer, not the political party of the President."

The report, as well as supporting documents and depositions, can be accessed here.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 15, 2008 (boomark / email).