Did Bush Administration Run Partisan Schemes At Taxpayers’ Expense?

Did Bush spin doctors enlist top gov’t agency appointees to help Republican candidates in elections? Did Bush Administration Run Partisan Schemes At Taxpayers’ Expense?By Cliff Montgomery – May 25th, 2007Bush Administration officials apparently held 20 briefings with top government agency appointees on using their federal departments to aid Republican candidates in the 2006 midterm elections, actions which are outlawed by federal restrictions on partisan political activity.The meetings were with senior officials in at least 15 government agencies, a White House spokesman and other administration officials acknowledged in late April. And in addition to 20 meetings held in2006-2007, there have been “others throughout the last six years,” according to a White House spokesman.The previously undisclosed meetings were part of what appears to have been a concentrated effort by top Bush spin doctors to enlist senior government agency appointees to help Republican candidates win elections.Such coercion is prohibited under 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 federal resources–including phones, office buildings and computers–for partisan schemes.The Bush White House claims that no laws were broken during the previously undisclosed meetings–but as Republicans themselves like to say, “that doesn’t pass the smell test.”It may not pass the legal test either. While Bush officials uniformly claim that these questionable briefings were merely “informational briefings about the political landscape,” a closer look into these activities show they were probably much more.Every meeting was conducted by a deputy to George W. Bush’s chief spin doctor, Karl Rove, according to the Washington Post.At one such briefing, at the headquarters of the General Services Administration (GSA) in January 2007, two slides were presented: one apparently showing 20 House Democrats Rove has targeted for defeat in the 2008 elections, and the other showing several dozen vulnerable Republicans.At the end of the briefing, GSA Administrator Lurita Doan directly asked the Bush spin doctor how GSA activities might help “our candidates,” say at least half a dozen witnesses, according to the Post.The Rove deputy, Scott Jennings, replied that the matter should be discussed “off-line,” according to witnesses.Doan then told Jennings, “Oh, good, at least as long as we are going to follow up,” according to the House investigation testimony of former GSA chief acquisition officer Emily Murphy.The January meeting came to light in March, which prompted an investigation by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.GSA deputy director of communications Jennifer Millikin testified to House investigators she felt at the time that, “Something was going to take place potentially” after the exchange of Doan and Rove’s deputy spin doctor.The Office of Special Counsel also is investigating whether GSA officials felt coerced into using federal projects to favor vulnerable Republican candidates.Scott Bloch, director of the Office of Special Counsel, dropped a bombshell during an interview over the GSA matter with the Post: the Special Counsel has “had allegations” and “received information” about similar meetings that were held at other agencies besides GSA.White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told the Post that the vulnerability of specific Republican candidates was “certainly” discussed at those meetings. He then added that in addition to the 20 meetings held in 2006-2007, “there were others throughout the last six years.”At the Commerce Department, briefings by Rove’s deputy spin doctors were held in 2002, in March 2004, and in April 2006, admitted department spokesman Richard Mills.Mills told the Post the discussions at Commerce were “purely informational,” legal and appropriate–which in Bush double-speak, is a virtual admission that there was probably something illegal going on at the Commerce Department.Bush spin doctor briefings were also conducted every two years exclusively for the Commerce Department’s senior political staff, including Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, admitted Mills. He could not explain to the Post the reason for those separate meetings.Such admissions show that meetings between Bush spin doctors and top appointees have been a common Bush Administration practice during U.S. election cycles.”Political forecasts, just generally…I do not regard as illegal political activity,” Special Counsel director Bloch told the Post. But “where you cross the line is where you get into the slant of someone being elected or defeated,” and plan to use government resources to aid or hamper political candidates during an election year, he added.House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois referred to Doan’s reported remarks in an April speech at the Brookings Institute, saying the Bush Administration has used “all the levers of power” for its narrow political interests.The Bush White House has spent the last six years trying to make the federal government “a stepchild of the Republican Party,” added Rep. Emanuel.If these charges against the Bush White House prove true, Emanuel’s statements may be the most accurate yet uttered about this administration.