Rep. WAXMAN: Oversight Committee Requests Documents From Doan Investigation = HATCH ACT

[L. Coyote]

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Administration Oversight
Committee Requests Documents From Doan Investigation
http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1337

Chairman Waxman requests from the Office of Special Counsel documents related to its investigation of Hatch Act violations by GSA Administrator Lurita Doan. The OSC concluded that Administrator Doan violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits executive branch officials from engaging in partisan politics while on duty, in official government work spaces, or with government equipment.

Documents and Links

* Letter to Special Counsel Scott Bloch - http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20070530160300.pdf

[cspanlovr]

1. Oh, this is so good. I watched her original hearing, and look forward to the next.

I'll bet she won't be smiling next time. She's another "I don't recall, I don't remember recalling that, I really have no memory of that", loyal bushie.

[L. Coyote]

3. Is there a VIDEO link anywher?

[waiting for hope]

14. Here you go!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VePqzIrR-ao

It's always fun to see Loyal Bushies getting a smack down!

[L. Coyote]

16. Choice INDEED! "I honestly don't have a recollection of the presentation at all"

Then she is treated like a child in grade school, justifiably so. :rofl:

This is a MUST SEE.

"I really, truly don't remember seing this slide ... I truly do not remember this part of the presentation."

"I attended the meeting, yes, I was there."

"I don't remember it."

[L. Coyote]

17. MUST SEE MUST SEE, MUST SEE, & Where is the PowerPoint File?

[L. Coyote]

12. Thorn in the side of GOP says he's just doing his job = Many Hearings

Thorn in the side of GOP says he's just doing his job
Anna Badkhen, James Sterngold, Chronicle Staff Writers
Monday, May 28, 2007 - Washington
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/28/MNGV7Q2QGK1.DTL


Henry Waxman's critics say he is a "Bush-bashing" attack dog obsessed with a partisan vendetta.

His admirers say he is a dogged investigator making up for years of neglect during the six years a Republican-controlled Congress exercised little oversight of a Republican-controlled executive branch.

Whatever his motivations, the 17-term Democratic congressman from Los Angeles has been making life distinctly uncomfortable for the Bush White House.
Since he became chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in January, Waxman, 67, has been probing some of the more contentious issues surrounding the administration, including prewar intelligence on Iraq, corruption in postwar reconstruction, White House contacts with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, allegations that administration officials used political party e-mail accounts to conduct government business, and the misinformation surrounding the friendly fire death in Afghanistan of former NFL star Pat Tillman.

Last week, Waxman chaired a hearing into the government's often-criticized response to the mental health problems of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, which he called "an enormous public health threat." To Rep. Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican on the committee, Waxman's "investigative direction and agenda are simply objectionable." .........

Waxman's docket:

IRAQ INTELLIGENCE -- Waxman's committee is seeking information on prewar intelligence "....I voted for the authorization for President Bush to go to war if necessary, if the U.N. process didn't allow the disarming of Saddam Hussein....."

WHITE HOUSE E-MAIL

IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION -- The committee is seeking information on alleged corruption and waste

DEATH OF PAT TILLMAN -- "We owe a lot to our servicemen and women. ... But one thing we owe them more than anything else is the truth, and I'm determined that we uphold that standard."

JACK ABRAMOFF SCANDAL -- "We still don't know the full story on the Abramoff scandal. We know it threatened the integrity of government decisions but it is still not clear how far the corruption extended. That is why we are continuing our investigation."

Hooray for Anna Badkhen and James Sterngold for hard work on this piece!!!

[Lerkfish]

2. good. this should be a no-brainer

[ThomWV]

4. Her sworn testimony shold serve as adequate evidence to convict her

Hell, I heard it myself on C-Span. There is no denying that she misused Government facilities and the time of people who were being paid by the taxpayers in violation of the Hatch Act.

What is more important is that she said that the Republican presentation given at her Agency was a traveling road show that had been at other Agencys too. So she is not alone in violation of this Act and she should not be alone in being convicted for it.

[L. Coyote]

7. This pattern might become the mark of this Administration, Lies. lies, and more lies

And then the liars say that the people who tell the truth are lying.

They seem to have fogotten that their base knows about the Ten Commandments!! And their base hates Liars more than Leftists.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. Toss that shrill, shill in the slammer. I detest that "insert any expletive".

[L. Coyote]

6. OSC "found that she engaged in political activity prohibited by the Hatch Act"

From Waxman's letter:

I understand that the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has concluded its investigation of
Lurita A. Doan, the Administrator of the General Services Administration, and found that she
engaged in political activity prohibited by the Hatch Act. As you stated in the letter transmitting
the report to Ms. Doan:

  The Office of Special Counsel has completed its investigation into the Hatch Act
  allegations, and as discussed in the enclosed Report of Prohibited Political Activity, I have 
  determined that you violated the Hatch Act's prohibition against using your official authority 
  or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election. '

According to your letter, Ms. Doan has until June 1,2007, to respond, and you plan to
forward your report and Ms. Doan's response, if any, to the President.

The Oversight Committee has invited Ms. Doan to a hearing in June to testify about the
veracity of statements she made to our Committee and to OSC investigators. To assist in the
Committee's preparation for this hearing, I request the following documents .....

(EVERYTHING)

....I request that you provide these documents to the Committee by Tuesday, June 5,2007...

[L. Coyote]

11. OSC rejects claim it leaked copies of Hatch Act report

OSC rejects claim it leaked copies of Hatch Act report
By Daniel Pulliam May 30, 2007
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=37050&dcn=todaysnews


The head of the Office of Special Counsel rejected a request by attorneys for General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan to shut down an inquiry into allegations that she violated the law limiting political activity in the government.

In a one-page letter Friday, Special Counsel Scott Bloch said Doan's accusation that OSC gave copies of its investigative report to the public is false. The letter said OSC believes that someone from GSA obtained a copy of the report, which found that Doan had violated the Hatch Act through her role in a January meeting at GSA headquarters, and leaked it to the press.

The letter came in response to one from Doan's lawyer arguing that OSC's objectivity has been "irreparably damaged" by leaks of a report on preliminary findings to the media. Bloch should "disapprove the current report and support any further consideration of this matter by an investigative body outside the Office of Special Counsel," the lawyers said.

Bloch said Doan is "attempting to throw up roadblocks" to OSC's investigation.

"Indeed, one could construe this ruse as further obstruction, attempting to prevent completion of our investigation and report to the president," Bloch wrote. "This office has exclusive jurisdiction over the Hatch Act, and we will complete this matter and report to the president."

Doan has until Friday to respond to the report, after which the agency will send its assessment to President Bush along with Doan's response. ........

[librechik]

8. wow this is my third GO WAXMAN of the day!

I like this kind of Friday news dump...

[L. Coyote]

9. There was a Dem Bash that kinda set me off. Thought maybe someone missed a lot

of news since January 2006. And, dang but if it didn't make me realize something:

BUSHCO "... is a 13 ring circus, with hundreds of clowns, lots of pickpockets, caged chimps, a big tent cheering loudly, no net under the high wire, and a train wreck of elephants."

[L. Coyote]

10. The hearing has been rescheduled for June 13. Docs by June 5th..

Doan Hearing Postponed
By Daniel Pulliam | Friday, June 01, 2007 | 12:18 PM
http://blogs.govexec.com/techinsider/archives/2007/06/doan_hearing_postponed_1.html

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has postponed a scheduled hearing on General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan. The panel's chairman, Henry Waxman, D-Calif., wants Doan to testify on her allegations that employees who testified about her statements at Jan. 26 meeting at GSA headquarters were biased and poor performers. Waxman also said Doan may be asked other questions about her previous statements to the committee and to officials involved in an Office of Special Counsel investigation of whether she violated the Hatch Act.

The hearing has been rescheduled for June 13.

Doan's last appearance before the committee also was postponed because the committee needed more time to prepare.

On Wednesday Waxman asked the Office of Special Counsel for documents related to the independent agency's investigation of Doan by June 5 in preparation for the hearing. ...........

[LSK]

13. Feel free to ripoff my avatar

:D

[L. Coyote]

15. Got a Coyote growling at the moon? GRRrrrr.

[Disturbed]

18. What happened with the Subpoena of Ms Rice?

Wasn't that at least two weeks ago? Is Waxman going to set that aside and allow Ms Rice to ignore a Subpoena from Congress?

[L. Coyote]

23. Rice is scheduled to apear withTenet. Tenet is cooperating w/ Congress.

They are on for the same day. Will she take the Fifth, while Tenet tells on her???

[libodem]

19. Rep. waxman is going to be one busy fella

I still think there is something to Abramhoff's gambling showboats entertaining some of the 19 hijackers. Keep digging into those Florida flight schools and who knows whom still has a few twists and turns if you ask me. Falwell was even involved in strange finances regarding the flight schools. What I'm saying is I believe that the 19 hijackers were groomed by someone inside the country. Maybe with Abramhoff money. Maybe with Falwell's money. Maybe that's why he is suddenly dead.

[L. Coyote]

20. Check the relationships of Falwell, Ralph Reed, Tim Griffin and the Arkansas Project.

The flights in that scandal are probably closer to a real relationship to this junta of miscreants.

Remember, Reed and Abramoff are college pals and get involved early, in the Reagan years.

Something fishy in Arkansas is being covered up, and it smells like the Arkansas Project.
Where did the money really come from? I would not get to distracted extraneous criminals.

[Morgana LaFey]

21. The Dems should never, never, never have let Rove be a

White House advisor. He is and was purely political. He is a walking violation of the Hatch Act. What were they thinking?

[L. Coyote]

22. SORRY! Presidential Advisors not confirmed by Congress. They were thinking

If only we were the cannibals, we could give that unmeritorious and felonious
dirty trickster a real case of anthropophagophobia. Damn, he would look good roasted!!

:rofl:

[Morgana LaFey]

25. I didn't say a word about confirmation -- and the Dems weren't in

long enough for that anyway. IOW: there was always a way around bad confirmation mojo with the Republican Congress, and even now Bush still finds a way to get most of what he wants.

I'm talking about making a stink, publicizing it, doing all the things good Republican legislators would have done in the same position.

[L. Coyote]

26. Light at the end of the ROVE tunnel as the IMPEACH train rolls along.

The new story in Time this week may spell the resignation of the uncomfirmed Mr. Rove.

Abramoff, election rigging, illegal campaign funds...... and a real cast of miscreants all rolled together with felonious undertakings.

Republican's are going to hate this. One of their own has signed an affidavit implicating Rove in a series of criminal misdeeds.

Abramoff and Kark Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor and Campaign Finances
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1023111

"A long time Republican lawyer in Alabama swears she heard a top G.O.P. operative in the state say that Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys."

[L. Coyote]

24. kick

[L. Coyote]

27. Special counsel finds GSA chief violated Hatch Act

Special counsel finds GSA chief violated Hatch Act
By Daniel Pulliam [e-mail] May 23, 2007
http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=36997

A report from the federal agency that investigates allegations of illegal political activity in the government has concluded that Lurita Doan, the head of the General Services Administration, violated the Hatch Act.

The 21-page report from Scott Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, has not been made public, but the independent agency sent Doan a copy for her review on Friday, according to sources with knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The facts gathered by OSC investigators "establish that Administrator Doan violated the Hatch Act," by inducing "her subordinates to engage in the type of political brainstorming session that is prohibited from occurring while the political appointees are on duty or in a federal workplace," the May 18 report, obtained by Government Executive Wednesday, stated.

..............

[L. Coyote]

28. Doan responds: White House political official is the real culprit

Doan responds to Hatch Act investigation
By ELISE CASTELLI
June 04, 2007
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2807852

The Office of Special Counsel is pointing the finger at the wrong person, General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan argued in a response to a scathing Office of Special Counsel report that found she violated the Hatch Act.

A Jan. 26 PowerPoint presentation to GSA political appointees by a White House political official is the real culprit, not Doan’s statements following that presentation, her attorney, Michael Nardotti, wrote in a June 1 response to the OSC report sent to Special Counsel Scott Bloch.
“If anything, it was the briefing, which OSC concedes Administrator Doan had no role in preparing or arranging, that may have violated the Hatch Act,” Nardotti wrote in the response.

...........