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President Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Wednesday.
Sebelius violated the Hatch Act when she publicly endorsed President Barack Obama’s re-election during a taxpayer-funded public event on Feb. 25, 2012.
Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner wrote to Obama that the OSC found Sebelius “violated the Hatch Act by making extemporaneous political remarks in a speech delivered in her official capacity,” on Feb. 25.
“The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their official authority or influence to affect the outcome of an election,” Lerner wrote to the president. “A federal employee is permitted to make partisan remarks when speaking in their personal capacity, but not when using an official title or when speaking about agency business.”
“Secretary Sebelius and the Department of Health and Human Services reimbursed the U.S. government for all costs and expenses associated with her travel to the February 25, 2012, event,” Lerner continued. “HHS subsequently reclassified the trip from official to political and issued a statement to that effect. OSC found no evidence that Secretary Sebelius made any other political statements in her official capacity.”
The Federal Times suggests that Sebelius may be fired for her illegal activity. “The finding could possibly cost Sebelius her job,” the outlet reported. “Although OSC did not recommend any specific punishment, and said Obama will decide how to punish her, Hatch Act violators are usually fired. However, the Merit Systems Protection Board can lower the penalty to a 30-day unpaid suspension if the board unanimously agrees the violation does not warrant removal.”
It’s unclear what punishment Sebelius will face, as Obama technically has to decide. But, when federal employees violate the Hatch Act – according to law firm Tully Rinckey PLLC – the standard punishment is termination. Only when a special board intervenes – after OSC determines that a Hatch Act violation took place – can a violator have their penalty reduced from termination to suspension.
“Hatch Act violators are typically fired; however, only an unanimous vote [by] the Merit Systems Protection Board can reduce the penalty to unpaid suspension,” Tully Rinckey PLLC partner John P. Mahoney told The Daily Caller, “[a]lthough the parties can agree to settle for less severe penalties.”
Recently, two government employees who violated the Hatch Act – one from the Social Security Administration and the other from the General Services Administration – had their penalties reduced from terminations to, respectively, 180-day and 30-day suspensions without pay.
“While these suspensions are certainly severe, federal employees need to be aware that a Hatch Act violation is a terminable offense,” Mahoney, who is the chair of his firm’s Labor and Employment Law Practice Group, said in a statement about those reduced sentences. “Federal employees must keep this law on their radar because all it takes is an e-mail or a few words for a Hatch Act violation to occur. Federal careers that spanned years or decades are ruined in seconds.”
Dan Epstein, the president of good-government group Cause of Action, is calling on President Barack Obama to fire Sebelius right away.
“This is the most high profile example of a Hatch Act violation since the Act was passed in 1939,” Epstein said. “Never before has a member of the President’s Cabinet been found to have committed a Hatch Act violation. President Obama should immediately fire HHS Secretary Sebelius for her violation of federal law. Additionally, the Justice Department should begin an investigation into any potential election crimes the Secretary may have committed through her then-taxpayer funded comments on February 25, 2012.”
http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/12/sebelius-violated-hatch-act-and-may-be-fired-obama-administration-lawyers-find/
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