Unabashed Corruption at the GSA

The Hatch Act, as Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker reminds us, specifically prohibits the use of federal agencies for partisan political purposes. As shown in the video clip below, a Powerpoint presentation (pdf) on Republican Top 20 2008 House Targets that was shown to GSA managers by Rove underling Scott Jennings, followed by GSA Chief Lurita Doan's entreaties to the attendees on how they can help "our candidates", look very much like a violation of that law.



And what does Doan say in her defense? She doesn't remember anything, except for the cookies.

From Steve Benen:

Braley asked, “Can you tell us what, if anything, these slides have to do with the GSA’s core purpose of procuring supplies and managing federal buildings?”

Doan replied, "This brown-bag luncheon, I believe, has been mischaracterized. This is a meeting, that is a team-building meeting."

This wasn’t persuasive. "This was a partisan political briefing; it occurred on GSA property, during work hours, and it had nothing to do with the GSA mission. You identified ‘team building’ as one of the purposes of this meeting. Can you explain to the taxpayers of this country how holding this partisan political briefing helped with team-building?"

Doan couldn’t explain. It didn’t matter — she was busted. The Hatch Act explicitly prohibits partisan campaign activities on federal property and Doan’s GSA obviously violated it.

It appears that the obfuscations and coverups at the GSA didn't stop with former Chief of Staff David Safavian who is now in jail for lying about his connection to Jack Abramoff. Ms. Doan herself -- who's incidentally in CREW's list of the most corrupt administrators under Bush -- seems aware she's in hot water, freaking about not wanting "them to have my fingerprints".

The rest of the Youtube video clips on the hearing at The Gavel. Firedoglake liveblogged the hearings, starting here. Additional documents can also be found at the Oversight and Government Reform Committee website.

Blatant corruption and incompetence is turning up everywhere in the Bush administration. And to think the Democrats have barely started draining the swamp. Imagine what else we'll find in the next 643 days until Bush is finally gone.



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