By GARRY RAYNO, Distant Dome
The Hatch Act was passed in 1939 after a scandal involving Democratic candidates in the 1938 election using Works Progress Administration workers to help with their campaigns and dangled agency jobs to help win votes.
The act was amended in 1993 and again in 2012 to relax prohibitions on federal employees engaging in political activity. While both amendments weakened the law they did not change the basic tenet of the law which is prohibiting the engagement in political activity while on duty, using federal resources, or wearing a uniform.
The law specifically prohibits federal employees of the Executive Branch while on duty from engaging in partisan political activities, such as campaigning, distributing political materials, or posting partisan messages on social media.
It also specifically prohibits federal employees of the Executive Branch from using their position or official authority to influence the outcome of an election or to coerce subordinates.
And it prohibits the use of government material for political activity.
The goals are to ensure non-partisan administration of programs, protect employees from coercion, and encourage merit-based employment.
In short it prohibits executive branch employees from using the power and authority of the federal government for partisan purposes.
The current activity of federal executive branch employees appears to totally disregard the law, but that shouldn’t be a surprise with an administration that has disregarded federal laws time and time again.
The attitude is “do it and let them sue because we have the Supreme Court behind us.”
A federal court judge recently ruled President Trump lacked legal authority to order National Guard troops into Los Angeles to put down demonstrations against the activity of Immigration and Customs Enforcement who were going to Home Depots to round up undocumented immigrants to deport and to farms as well often grabbing people off the street while agents were unidentified, wearing masks and in civilian vehicles.
Since that time, he has sent the National Guard and federal law enforcement officials into Memphis, Portland, Oregon, and into Chicago and surrounding areas.
And the Trump administration has usurped the constitutional “power of the purse” from Congress, and is deciding what money appropriated by Congress will be spent and what will not.
This weekend the federal government is in shutdown mode because there are not enough votes in the Senate to pass a continuing resolution to keep the federal government open.
Republicans hold the majority in the House, the Senate and hold the Oval Office, but due to Senate rules, 60 votes are needed to pass budget bills that are not dressed up as reconciliation, needing only a majority to pass, which is what the One Big Beautiful Bill was when it passed the Senate by the Vice President’s one vote, and the House by four votes.
That bill contained significant cuts to the Medicaid program which will have far reaching effects across the country and here in New Hampshire leaving millions without healthcare insurance.
The bill also did not include money for the tax credits for the Medicaid expansion program passed under the Affordable Care Act, which will send insurance premiums skyrocketing for people who purchase their health insurance through the marketplace established under the bill.
Democrats sought to include the funding for the tax credits in the continuing resolution in order to help those folks to continue to afford health insurance.
As we know in New Hampshire, uninsured people using the health care system who do not pay for the services, raise the premiums for those on private health insurance programs.
If you know you have to negotiate with Democrats in the Senate to gain the needed 60 votes, but refuse to budge at the urging of the president, you have a problem and most Americans will blame the party in power when the government shuts down.
But that is not the message the president and Republicans want the public to hear, they want to blame the “far left radical” Democrats who don’t have enough votes to pass anything in Congress.
So what has the Trump administration done to convince the American people they are not to blame for closing national parks and various other government services
This is the message on the White Mountain National Forest website since the shutdown began.
“The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government. This government website will be updated periodically during the funding lapse for mission critical functions. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”
If that isn’t a violation of the Hatch Act, I don’t know what is.
The US Health and Human Services website has this message on its Home page.
“Mission-critical activities of HHS will continue during the Democrat-led government shutdown. Please use this site as a resource as the Trump Administration works to reopen the government for the American people.”
This is on the State Department’s home page.
“Due to the Democrat-led shutdown, website updates will be limited until full operations resume.”
The Housing and Urban Development website has this message:
“The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.”
The United State Department of Agriculture has the message in big bold letters on its homepage.
“Due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse. President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people.”
Some agencies are nondescript like commerce which simply says because of the shutdown, the website will not be updated, which is similar to what NASA posted, and the Environmental Protection Agency’s website does not even mention the shutdown.
Maybe the Trump Administration has written off anyone who frequents the EPA website believing they are all anti-Trumpers.
What is being done in Trump’s executive department by executive branch employees is clearly illegal.
But who are you going to complain to, Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is in the president’s back pocket, or one of handpicked US District Attorneys?
And even if whoever is responsible for the messages on the federal agency websites is found guilty of violating the Hatch Act, he or she will not lose his or her job as the original law required, but will only be fined.
And if they do get caught red handed, all they have to say is the president ordered the messages be put up, because he and Vice President JD Vance are exempt from the Hatch law.
This is what happens when the power and authority of the federal government is used for partisan purposes or for one person’s agenda.
This is what happens in Russia with Vladimir Putin, in Hungary with Viktor Orbáne and in Turkey with Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
You can no longer believe anything the government tells you, and that is ruinous and will take generations to work through, if ever.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.
Distant Dome by veteran journalist Garry Rayno explores a broader perspective on the State House and state happenings for InDepthNH.org. Over his three-decade career, Rayno covered the NH State House for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Foster’s Daily Democrat. During his career, his coverage spanned the news spectrum, from local planning, school and select boards, to national issues such as electric industry deregulation and Presidential primaries. Rayno lives with his wife Carolyn in New London.