‘Why are you asking these questions?’
Given all of the various scandals we’ve seen from this White House, I suppose it’s a little tough to get worked up about Hatch Act violations. In fact, unlike some of the other breathtaking controversies, this one seems less serious precisely because it doesn’t surprise anyone. “Of course Karl Rove’s office was trying to manipulate executive branch agencies for partisan ends,” the political world says. “That’s his job.”
But let’s not be too hasty in dismissing the significance of this one. For one thing, Rove’s office clearly violated the law and got caught. For another, the White House can’t seem to come up with a coherent defense for it.
If you’re just joining us, Rove’s office arranged 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects at 15 executive branch agencies, everything from NASA to HHS to the Small Business Administration to Homeland Security. At these briefings, Rove or one of his acolytes would explain to hundreds of federal employees, at their workplaces, exactly which Republican candidates were vulnerable and in need of support. The same briefings would emphasize which Democratic candidates were being targeted, and where the GOP challenger could use a hand. All of these briefings were held in government offices shortly before a congressional election, despite the Hatch Act, which prohibits political coercion of federal employees and use of federal resources — including office buildings — for partisan purposes.
With this in mind, consider Dana Perino’s response to an easy question on this.
Q: Okay, on the political briefings, there seems — there’s no shortage of political information out there. Why does the White House feel it’s necessary to give these employees these briefings in the first place?
PERINO: I think that’s kind of ridiculous question. I mean, there’s — sorry, I usually don’t say those things, but I do think that that one was. Look, there is nothing wrong with political appointees providing other political appointees with an informational briefing about the political landscape in which they are working….. [T]he reason that you’re here working for the President is that you want to support his policies and his agenda, and so it’s good to get information from time to time.
Think about how silly this really is. We’re talking about bureaucrats at 15 federal agencies, none of whom actually work in a “political landscape.” Are there really NASA employees who need to know which House Republicans are considered vulnerable by the NRCC? Do Treasury staffers need to know who the top Dem targets are? If so, why?
According to Perino, even asking is “ridiculous.” But for the acting press secretary, the desperation was just getting started.
Q: Well, I’m trying to get to the motivation for this, and it’s 20 briefings —
PERINO: The motivation is to provide people information.
Q: But why? Why do they need this information —
PERINO: Why are you asking me these questions? You’re asking information, as well.
See, it’s all the same! Reporters are seeking information from the White House about administration activities and Rove’s office is giving information to federal employees about key races in the midterm cycle. There’s no difference at all, right?
Please. This is a special kind of stupid. To hear the White House’s explanation, 20 detailed political briefings at 15 federal agencies were all just one big FYI. Rove’s office just wanted to pass along comprehensive information about congressional races nationwide to hundreds of federal employees in case they were curious. Rove and his acolytes had nothing better to do with their time.
For some reason, Henry Waxman isn’t buying it.
A House committee chairman asked 27 federal departments and agencies yesterday to turn over information related to White House briefings about elections or political candidates, substantially widening the scope of a congressional investigation into the administration’s compliance with the law that restricts partisan political activity by government employees.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, made the requests after the White House acknowledged that aides to Karl Rove, President Bush’s chief political adviser, had presented 20 briefings on the “political landscape” to senior federal appointees, last year and this year. An undetermined number of briefings were held in previous years, a spokesman said.
Waxman asked that the information be submitted by mid-May, including the dates, times, locations and names of attendees of briefings that occurred from 2001 until this month, as well as any related “communications and documents.” Waxman’s committee has the authority to subpoena the data if the Bush administration declines to provide them voluntarily. This week, the panel endorsed three subpoenas on unrelated matters.
Just another headache for a scandal-plagued White House.
The politicization of the federal government has reached insidious levels under the administration. I’m glad that Waxman is asking questions that should have been asked a long time ago.
This is all tied, as Emanuel said, as part of the creation of the “unitary executive” and Rove’s Republican majority and, lastly but not least, the conservative revolution. In a revolution, all gloves come off and that’s what the conservatives have been doing to this country — screwing us all without lube.
“there is nothing wrong with political appointees providing other political appointees with an informational briefing about the political landscape in which they are working”
Let’s pretend for a moment that this is not a total load of bullshit with a cherry on top. Why didn’t Rove et.al. invite all these people to join them at the Washington Hilton (or maybe the Watergate) one sunny Saturday afternoon?
The administration is anal about staging everything for maximum impact (Note the Mission Accomplished banner hanging over the East Wing toilets). Obviously Rove felt holding these briefings on site framed them in a more powerful way. Seems like a textbook case of how to violate the Hatch Act.
I’ll bet that lightweight Perino will be glad when the professional liar Tony “spin cycle” Snow gets back.
She’s obviously unable to come up with the caliber of lies that they need to keep the wolves at bay.
Can someone ask the administration what would constitute a Hatch Act violation? And will the Republicans in Congress agree that this kind of “informational” meeting is fine for future Democratic administrations to host at all the federal agencies, or is this only OK for Republican administrations?
Henry Waxman is my hero. Along with John Conyers. And Al Gore…
I hope Snowjob decides to take some extra time off. Perino is one step from shrieking “WHY CAN’T YOU PEOPLE LEAVE ME ALONE!” and running off to live on squirrels and carp in Rock Creek Park.
This isn’t just another headache, this one could actually come to fruition: as verifiable violations of specific law, it’s got a lot bigger sting in the tail than the whole hanky-panky with DA’s issue, in fact.
Anyone know what the penalties for violation of the Hatch Act are?
I tried to read the entire transcript of the press conference but was too disgusted to finish. Does Dana Perino really believe the stuff she is saying? She’s definitely got the condescension in her tone down pat though.
Besides that, since when are employees at NASA considered political appointees? My father worked at NASA for 30 years and rose to be the Executive Director of Engineering (so he was not a low-level employee) and was never considered a political appointee in any way, shape, or form.
I can maybe, just maybe (on a bad day with no coffee), understand a rationale that they needed to do this since NASA gets its funding from the government. The political landscape could influence what gets funded and what does not. But that’s pretty flimsy and based on all the other shit this administration has pulled, I’m not buying it.
“A special kind of stupid” is one for the ages.
The fact that Perino would make such an outlandish claim makes me wonder one of three things
1: is she just pulling stupid crap like this out of her butt, because having ANY answer, no matter how foolish, is better than having no answer?
2: Does she & the rest of the Bushies know comparing election strategies on federal property is illegal and don’t care?
or
3: Are they really so stupid and so obnoxious that they honestly believe discussing election strategies in federal buldings to people who aren’t involved with election is actually just as important as those people doing their job? I remember back to when soldiers in Iraq were asked to pray for the President during a health scare, and wonder if perhaps they really are that stupid.
It was mandatory attendance under the implied idea that support would be rewarded. There is nothing trivial about their attempts to totally politicize US agencies which was headed toward making party an employment criteria. They have no regard for any of the laws we’ve set in place to contain such activity but operate under the platform of “just don’t get caught”. They are now trying to belittle the activity as being of little consequence yet it has spread throughout the government. I want to see Rove do the ‘perp’ walk.
I just hope that the dems push this to finality–i.e. a binding decision on the topic before the 2008 election. I really do not care much whether this conduct by Rove et al is found to be improper (although I believe it is improper and illegal). If it is found to be improper, fantastic and each and every Rove and Rove wannabe who participate dshould be punished and removed from government. If it is found to be acceptable under the law, fine, then the dems have Rove’s documents to show them just how far they can push this post 2008 when they get the WH back.
“Perino is one step from shrieking “WHY CAN’T YOU PEOPLE LEAVE ME ALONE!” and running off to live on squirrels and carp in Rock Creek Park”
LOL. I’ve felt that the entire administration is moving in this direction since the last election. I’d love to see Cheney and Bush trying to live on squirrels and carp. Cheney would shoot Bush because he can only hit captive animals. It would make a great cartoon.
Just remember that Capone was sent to jail on tax evasion charges. The little mess-ups are easier to prosecute.
orange, you got the post of the day so far (#4).
I now have a mental image of the formerly beautiful Perino, clothed in dirty rags, hair sodden with muck, gleefully gnawing on a carp and muttering over and over “Must protect the Preciousssss”.
I hope Snowjob decides to take some extra time off.
From what I’ve seen of his diagnosis, he may not be coming back. That kind of cancer killed my father-in-law relatively quickly.
WRT the Hatch Act violations, the Dems should pursue them with plenty of vigor. These are not “minor” violations, and the evidence for them is extensive and damning. Perino’s response is as lame as it is because there’s no excuse to be made.
The sister wrote: “Besides that, since when are employees at NASA considered political appointees? My father worked at NASA for 30 years and rose to be the Executive Director of Engineering (so he was not a low-level employee) and was never considered a political appointee in any way, shape, or form.”
It’s so simple: NASA needs to know, because if a Democrat gets into office, all the launches will suddenly fail! I think Giuliani will be telling people this at his next campaign stop.
*snark*
Thanks, guys. There’s a tiny little village not far from here called Rock Creek. There are squirrels and fish in the park, which sits next to a small waterfall. My nine-year-old son now thinks that Gollum lives there—and he wants to go and look for hobbits. You are evil! Evil, I say!!!
As for Perino, has anyone mentioned to her that her actions could be defined as “accessory to criminal actions?” She’ll make a fine squeeze-toy for Brunhilda….
gg – you are right! Those Democrats can’t be trusted to ensure that launches go off smoothly. Why, look what happened to the Challenger! Do you want that to happen again? Oh wait, who was in office then? Ok, well then what about Columbia? Who was in office then? Um, well, nevermind…
What I’d like to know is why the hell are we the people paying Karl Rove’s salary when his job clearly seems to be to undermine our constitutional democracy? Can a Democratic president have a Karl Rove if he/she wants one, too?
What Perino so elegantly glosses over is that Rove and his cohort were not providing information but direction. Rove was telling appointees in federal departments to use the power of their positions, their staff and their taxpayer-funded budgets in discriminatory and retaliatory ways to persecute political opponents and benefit political allies. Information? Please! Marching orders was more like it.
Um … whether or not the people who received the briefings are “political appointees” is irrelevant. You are not allowed to do partisan campaign work using government resources.
The law states:
These employees may not:
So unless Turdblossom has some sort of exemption (not sure if he does) he broke the law. Period.
The impression I’m getting of the WH’s new flak, Ms. Perrino, is a quantum leap downward from even Snowjob. I have to wonder which High School it is that’s missing a cheerleader? I fully expect her next defense of these, “Information Briefings”, from Rove and Company, (that violated the Hatch Act), will come out of her gob along the lines of:
“Because Dem’s are ickey! That’s why… D’Oh!“, as she rolls her eyes skyward and flounces her hair.
LS./M.F.T., @20,
Nope. Today’s “line” is… “Clinton did it too”. I kid you not; go to Think Progress for the video and transcript.
Leahy, Conyers, Waxman, et al. are doing a great job of holding hearings and bringing mischief to lght. This is the long-term payoff for the short-term annoyance caused by putting up with Lieberman, and (so far) it is very much worth it.
My nine-year-old son now thinks that Gollum lives there—and he wants to go and look for hobbits. You are evil! Evil, I say!!!
[Steve]
Your boy rocks. One might say he’s precioussssss.
Why would she have to crap in Rock Creek Park? She could do it anywhere.
Re #4-are there really carp in Rock Creek Park?? I would have thought pollution would have wiped them out…………