ABC News: Federal Investigation Targets GSA Chief Doan

Hissyspit

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Thu Apr-05-07 03:07 PM
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ABC News: Federal Investigation Targets GSA Chief Doan

Edited on Thu Apr-05-07 03:44 PM by Hissyspit

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/05/federal-investigation-targets-doan

Federal investigation targets Doan.

�The Office of Special Counsel confirmed to ABC News it has launched an investigation into General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan, probing concerns she may have violated a ban against conducting partisan political activity at government expense by participating in a meeting featuring a presentation by a White House political aide on GOP election strategy.� 3:58 pm | Comment (0)

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/probe_targets_g.html

Probe Targets GSA Chief

Justin Rood Reports:

Another federal investigation is targeting a Bush administration official, this time for possibly using government resourses for partisan political purposes.

The Office of Special Counsel confirmed to ABC News it has launched an investigation into General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan, probing concerns she may have violated a ban against conducting partisan political activity at government expense by participating in a meeting featuring a presentation by a White House political aide in GOP election strategy.

- snip -

Some believe those meetings are cause for further investigation by Congress and the Office of Special Counsel. "They should be looking at whether this particular meeting is part of a larger pattern and practice of violating the Hatch Act," said Melanie Sloan, director of the left-leaning government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). The Hatch Act prohibits government resources � including employees' time or space in a government building � from being used for partisan politics.

Congressional Democrats are on the Doan case. House Oversight and Government Reform Commmittee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., last week grilled the GSA chief and asked the White House for information on whether the January GSA presentation has been given at other government agencies.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002960.php

Rove's RNC Roadshow

By Paul Kiel - April 5, 2007, 4:20 PM
General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan was raked across the coals last week in a House hearing for having Karl Rove's deputy come and brief government employees on the wellfare of the Republican Party. But apparently that presentation was just business as usual for Rove.

TPM alum Justin Rood reports at ABC News:

The White House political office has been giving presentations similar to the one at GSA since at least 2002, briefing officials throughout the government on Republican campaign information, according to a recent book by two Los Angeles Times reporters.

(White House political adviser Karl) Rove and (former Bush campaign chief and one-time Republican National Committee head Ken) Mehlman ventured to nearly every cabinet agency to share key polling data" leading up to the 2002 midterm elections, wrote Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten in their book, "One Party Country," "and to deliver a reminder of White House priorities, including the need for the president's allies to win in the next election.

Justin also reports that Doan is under investigation by the Office of Special Counsel. The meeting, and Doan's reported enthusiasm for leveraging the GSA's considerable taxpayer-funded resources to help GOP candidates, is a possible violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits using government resources for political means.

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