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A sheriff in New York received a warning after a federal investigation into a complaint that his department flew a Trump flag from a government-owned boat in August. Oswego County Sheriff Don Hilton received the warning from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in response to a complaint alleging that he violated the Hatch Act (which forbids the use of taxpayer time and money going toward advocacy for a political candidate) on an on-duty patrol boat during an Oneida Lake pro-Trump flotilla on Aug. 2, Syracuse.com reported....

CRS Report: Hatch Act Restrictions on Federal Employees’ Political Activities in the Digital Age document page 6. Limited Exceptions The Hatch Act provides a few limited exceptions, including for employees in certain high-ranking positions and for employees seeking to engage in political activities in certain municipalities. Certain Executive Officials and Appointees The Hatch Act provides an exception to allow certain high-ranking officials to “engage in political activity otherwise prohibited ... if the costs associated with that political activity are not paid for by money derived from the Treasury of the United States.” The exception is available to employees who hold...

On the second night of the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump resorted once again to the favorite trick in his bag: a televised surprise. An impromptu naturalization ceremony put on as part of the Tuesday night festivities was, as a political matter, an attempt to show a softer side of a president with one of the most anti-immigration records in recent memory. Senior Trump administration officials widely view the law as a joke, and have often traded quips over how consequence-free their infractions have been and how much Democrats harp on the violations, two ex-officials said. Some Trump lieutenants have...

Thursday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) weighed in on the possibility of President Donald Trump giving his speech accepting the Republican Party presidential nomination from the White House, despite some suggesting it could a violation of the Hatch Act. -snip “I think it’s an outrage,” Gillibrand lamented. “President Trump continues to demean his office. He continues to break norms, and if anyone helps him do his speech, it’s in violation of the Hatch Act. So he may well be exempt, but again, to misuse federal resources for political gain is something that we do not tolerate...

The United States Postal Service violated federal law by letting employees do union-funded work for Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democratic candidates while on leave from the agency, according to an Office of Special Counsel report obtained by Fox News. The OSC determined the USPS "engaged in systemic violations" of the Hatch Act, a federal law that limits certain political activities of federal employees. While employees are allowed to do some political work on leave, the report said the Postal Service showed a "bias" favoring the union's 2016 campaign operation. The investigation was launched months ago after Senate Committee on...

A government watchdog found "no evidence" that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo violated a federal law governing political activities with trips he took to Kansas last year. The disclosure was made on Thursday by Pompeo when he sent a letter to Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, that included a copy of the Office of Special Counsel's (OSC) report, and then also sent a copy of the letters to a group of reporters. "OSC has no evidence to conclude that you violated the Hatch Act. Therefore, we are closing this matter without further action,"...

UPDATE : Conway reacted to Rep. Cummings's threat to hold her in contempt during a Fox News interview on Tuesday. "This is the latest example of harassment and embarrassment," she said. She has every right to not show up to the House Oversight hearings because as a White House senior adviser she has the right to immunity. But, she's "happy to testify" because she's "done nothing wrong." "This about me going on TV and stating facts," she insisted, referring to her statements about 2020 presidential candidates Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. They are old, white career politicians, she noted. ORIGINAL...

Well, they've gone and done it. The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to authorize a subpoena for White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway to testify about her potential Hatch Act violations. The panel says that Conway engaged in "egregious, repeated, and very public violations” of the ethics law. "Here, we have a clear-cut case of a federal employee violating federal law over and over and over again,”  Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) alleged on Wednesday after the panel's vote.Conway knows what's going on. The Democrats on the panel, she said earlier this week, want to silence her."They want a big roll of...

The U.S. Office of the Special Counsel has recommended the removal of White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway over violations of the Hatch Act. The OSC wrote that her “violations, if left unpunished, would send a message to all federal employees that they need not abide by the Hatch Act’s restrictions. Her actions thus erode the principal foundation of our democratic system — the rule of law.” This isn't the first time a White House or cabinet official violated the Hatch Act. It happened several times in the Obama administration but the OSC didn't recommend the removal of the official. In...

In a weird case of uneven enforcement, the Justice Department's Office of Special Counsel recommended that President Trump's presidential advisor, Kellyanne Conway, be fired for making political statements in a violation of the Hatch Act. Here's the Washington Examiner's listing of her supposed 'violations': Specific violations listed by Kerner related to Conway's comments during interviews about several 2020 Democratic candidates. For instance, she insinuated Sen. Cory Booker was “sexist” and a “tinny” “motivational speaker.” She castigated former Rep. Beto O'Rourke “think[ing] the women running are good enough to be President" and said Sen. Elizabeth Warren was "lying” about her...

BREAKING: US Office of Special Counsel Recommends Kellyanne Conway Be Removed From Office For Hatch Act Violations.. ( Full title).. The US Office of Special Counsel said in a report given to President Trump on Thursday that his counselor Kellyanne Conway has repeatedly violated the Hatch Act and recommended her removal from federal service. The Hatch Act bars federal employees from engaging in political activity. “The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) calls on President Donald J. Trump to remove Ms. Conway from her federal position immediately,” the agency wrote in a letter to the White House. “[K]ellyanne Conway violated...

The Office of Special Counsel on Thursday recommended the removal of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway from federal office for violating the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity in the course of their work. The report submitted to President Trump found that Conway violated the Hatch Act on numerous occasions by “disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.”

A recovering addict, Lynne Patton advised Trump’s campaign on minority outreach and now works at HUD calling attention to appalling public-housing conditions. When Michael Cohen testified before the House Oversight Committee last month, the most dramatic moment was a sideshow in which the protagonist—Lynne Patton, a supporter of President Trump—remained silent. As Republican Rep. Mark Meadows challenged Mr. Cohen’s claims that Mr. Trump is a racist, Ms. Patton, who is black, rose and eyed the witness with a disappointed glare. That prompted a diatribe from Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “Just because someone has a person of color, a black person,...

Federal workers may violate Hatch Act restrictions on "political activity" if they urge President Trump's impeachment as he seeks re-election, according to a government office that enforces the law. If the president is not seeking re-election, however, advocating impeachment would not be banned, the Office of the Special Counsel said in new guidance circulated by email Tuesday. "Advocating for a candidate to be impeached, and thus potentially disqualified from holding federal office, is clearly directed at the failure of that candidate's campaign for federal office," the office said.

WASHINGTON — At workplaces across the United States, it is routine for Americans’ conversations to turn to President Trump — whether his policies are good, whether he should be impeached, what to think about the “resistance.” Some drink from MAGA mugs; others tape cartoons to their cubicle walls portraying Mr. Trump as a Russian quisling. But roughly two million people who work for the federal government have now been told that it may be illegal for them to participate in such discussions at work — a pronouncement that legal specialists say breaks new ground, and that some criticized as going...

Search URL should return the campaign contributions given to Hillary Clinton's failed 2008 primary campaign for the period 02/01/2009 to 12/31/2010 while she served as Sec of State. I filtered to show contributions of $1000 or more. The total contributions were over $7,000,000 She also raised over a million dollars from 2011 to 2012. Those receipts (for $1000 or more) are shown here: FEC.Gov link

Full Title: Here We Go: Office of Special Counsel Opens Investigation on Acting AG Matt Whitaker Over Hatch Act Violations An independent federal investigative agency is looking into whether acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker violated prohibitions on political activities by federal employees by accepting contributions to his 2014 Senate campaign earlier this year. Last January and February, when Whitaker served as chief of staff at the Department of Justice, four individuals donated a total of $8,800 to the committee for Whitaker’s unsuccessful 2014 run for a Senate seat in Iowa, according to Federal Election Commission records. Austin Evers, the executive...

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders likely violated ethics regulations when she posted a photo on her official White House Twitter account of Kanye West wearing a MAGA hat, a watchdog group charged. West’s hat touts President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” Sanders posed with the rapper for the photo after his wild appearance in the Oval Office Thursday with Trump. The group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint Friday with the Office of Special Counsel, accusing Sanders of violating the Hatch Act. The act forbids federal employees from using their influence,...

The socialist Justice Department employee who harassed the Homeland Security secretary at a Washington restaurant won’t be disciplined for her political tweets, a government watchdog has concluded. Allison Hrabar’s Twitter posts complaining about deportation and detention policy aren’t political activity, the Office of Special Counsel ruled, and so they don’t break the federal Hatch Act. OSC Hatch Act Unit chief Ana Galindo-Marrone said someone must go beyond policy to actually back the election or defeat of a candidate to be in violation of the rules. “The tweets we reviewed from June 19 and 20, which Ms. Hrabar posted while at...

Shortened title. Full title: BREAKING: IG Report to Weigh in on Hatch Act Violations at FBI ‘Officials Using Their Authority to Interfere With an Election’ Inspector General Michael Horowitz informed lawmakers weeks ago on Capitol Hill his much-anticipated 400 page report on the FBI’s handling of Hillary Clinton’s email investigation entered the final stages. The report will be released today at 3 PM. President Trump will see a copy of the report at noon. The first leaks on the report say James Comey broke from FBI procedures when he delivered his report publicly on the Hillary Clinton email scandal. Hillary...