Six White House officials reprimanded for violating the Hatch Act
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee and
Juliet Eilperin November 30 at 7:40 PM
Six White House officials violated a federal law that prohibits public employees from conducting political activity in their official roles when they used their official Twitter accounts to send or display political messages supporting President Trump, according to the federal agency that enforces the law.
The announcement came the same day the Office of Special Counsel sought to clarify when federal employees could use words like “impeachment” or “resist” without running afoul of the 1939 Hatch Act — underscoring how political polarization in the Trump era has made the federal bureaucracy an increasingly fraught workplace.
The six White house employees, who included members of the press office, deleted their social media posts once they were told they had violated the Hatch Act, the Office of Special Counsel said. As a result, federal investigators issued warning letters rather than taking disciplinary action and advised that similar social media activity in the future would be considered a willful violation of the law that could result in further action, according to Erica S. Hamrick, deputy chief of the Hatch Act unit.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/six-white-house-officials-reprimanded-for-violating-the-hatch-act/2018/11/30/e4a12cb8-f4bf-11e8-aeea-b85fd44449f5_story.html?utm_term=.083320dd60ec
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