WASHINGTON — In the run-up to the 2010 midterm election in which Democrats lost control of the House, the Obama administration repeatedly broke the law by using federal funds to send Cabinet secretaries and other high-level political appointees to congressional districts of Democratic candidates in tight races, according to a government report.
"Because those trips were classified as official, funds from the U.S. Treasury were used to finance the trips and reimbursement from the relevant campaigns was never sought," stated the report by the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that enforces Hatch Act restrictions on partisan political activity inside the federal government.
"In other cases, even when trips were correctly designated as political, agencies used U.S. Treasury funds to cover the costs associated with the trips and did not recoup those funds as required by the Hatch Act and its regulations," the office concluded.
I would image that a story like this would lend credence to the GOP storyline that the Obama administration is guilty of spreading tyranny and that we have lost control of our government. Why isn’t the right wing blogosphere filled with this breaking news story? Gather your pitchforks!!!
I guess it’s because this never happened. This is the real news story that came out yesterday from the Associated Press:
WASHINGTON — In the run-up to the 2006 midterm election in which Republicans lost control of the House, the Bush administration repeatedly broke the law by using federal funds to send Cabinet secretaries and other high-level political appointees to congressional districts of GOP candidates in tight races, according to a government report.
"Because those trips were classified as official, funds from the U.S. Treasury were used to finance the trips and reimbursement from the relevant campaigns was never sought," stated the report by the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency that enforces Hatch Act restrictions on partisan political activity inside the federal government.
"In other cases, even when trips were correctly designated as political, agencies used U.S. Treasury funds to cover the costs associated with the trips and did not recoup those funds as required by the Hatch Act and its regulations," the office concluded.
Insert indignation here __________. It seems that levels of outrage depend on what side of the aisle you sit. If you are wondering what the penalty is for this 'infraction', the perps lose their jobs. Too late for that sanction to hurt.
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