Congress Gave Last Minute Funds Boost To White House Briefings Probe

Did Karl Rove and other GOP spin doctors push for an illegal use of taxpayer resources for partisan political purposes? Congress Gave Last-Minute Funds Boost To White House Briefings ProbeBy Cliff Montgomery -Jan. 14th, 2008The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) soon will receive a few extra dollars to continue its probe into numerous Bush Administration briefings which may have called for an illegal misuse of government power and resources for partisan political purposes.The Democratic-led Congress tucked into its omnibus spending bill an extra $1.1 million for the ongoing investigation. The legislation was signed by George W. Bush in December.OSC’s eight-month-old probe has zeroed in on GOP-led briefings about partisan political strategy, presented by former Bush White House spin doctor Karl Rove and others to administration appointees at almost all U.S. government agencies from 2001-2006.Among other partisan matters, Rove and other Republican spin doctors are said to have openly encouraged federal officials to give grants or contracts to GOP congressional districts which were in danger of being lost to Democrats or Independents.If true, such calls would be asking for clear breaches of the Hatch Act, a federal law meant to keep virtually every federal worker from using the powers of their office for partisan politics. The law forbids agency bosses from applying pressure on federal employees to influence an election outcome, and bars the use of taxpayer-funded federal resources–including phones, office buildings and computers–for partisan schemes.The Bush White House claims that no laws were broken during the meetings–but as Republicans themselves like to say, “that doesn’t pass the smell test.”The OSC frankly had requested even more money. It was hoping for an extra $2.9 million for the investigation, but initially neither the Senate nor the House had passed legislation to increase the agency’s budget.James Mitchell, an OSC spokesman, told CongressDaily that budget appropriators later spoke to  agency representatives about their funding needs for the probe. An OSC budget increase was quietly added to the omnibus legislation during final negotiations, which occurred just before the congressional Christmas recess.”House and Senate appropriators did not respond to inquiries regarding who made the change,” reported CongressDaily on Jan 7th.The legislation declares that the extra funding will “assist OSC with computer forensics in connection with its special task force investigations.”Along with added manpower, the agency requested more finances to further its computer forensic procedures as part of the White House inquiry. OSC has declared it currently is investigating whether White House employees misused campaign email accounts to hide illegal political activities. The Bush Administration claims a large number of those emails were deleted.Mitchell told CongressDaily that the extra dollars will “enhance our ability to continue our expanded Hatch Act investigation.” But despite its specified designation, the additional funds may well be used on some of the probe’s other matters. The OSC currently is questioning federal employees based on evidence received from a number of agencies, added Mitchell.The financial aid comes at a time of continued criticism of the OSC investigation. Though much of the talk comes from members of the Far Right, three reasoned government watchdog groups have asked Congress to cease giving additional funds to the agency until a separate, two-year-old Office of Personnel Management investigation of Special Counsel Scott Bloch, current head of OSC, has been completed.The Government Accountability Project, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Project on Government Oversight have jointly filed a complaint against the OSC head, stating that Bloch retaliated against office whistleblowers.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!