Not in 'The People's House'
Reps. Quigley, Schakowsky call out ‘nefarious’ misuse of White House by Trump campaign
Congressman Mike Quigley speaks at a Chicago news conference earlier this month. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
President Trump’s repeated use of the White House as a campaign prop in this week’s Republican National Convention has drawn a swift rebuke from members of the Illinois congressional delegation.
On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago introduced what he called the Reducing Nefarious Crimes Act — pointedly abbreviated as the RNC Act — intended to put teeth in the Hatch Act, a longstanding law banning “executive-branch employees from using their official roles for campaign purposes,” according to a Quigley news release.
The Hatch Act basically forbids electioneering by employees of the presidential administration. It dates back to the Depression era and charges that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration used Works Progress Administration employees to do campaign work in the 1938 midterm election. Although an investigation was inconclusive, Roosevelt signed the bill into law the following year. It was most recently amended under the Obama administration in 2012.
Quigley’s release charged that “members of the Trump administration have flagrantly violated this statute throughout the past three years, with senior administration officials even being reprimanded by the Office of Special Counsel, yet all have continued in their roles without consequence. The RNC Act would ensure that any current or future occupants of the White House face actual repercussions for the violation of the Hatch Act.”
“From Kellyanne Conway to Sarah Sanders to the president’s own daughter Ivanka Trump, more than a dozen members of this administration have callously violated the law,” Quigley said in an accompanying statement. “Despite recommendations from OSC and complaints from the public, not a single official has faced any consequences or been removed from their position. Instead, they have repeated the same actions again and again without fear of true consequences. We must make it clear to this administration — and every administration that follows — that no one is above the law.”
First lady Melania Trump delivered a campaign speech to the Republican Convention from the White House Rose Garden Tuesday night, and the president plans to deliver his formal address accepting the Republican nomination in his reelection bid from the White House on Thursday — both in violation of longstanding conventions against using the trappings of office for political means.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also came under fire Tuesday for giving a speech to the convention from a formal diplomatic visit to Jerusalem. CNN reported: “The decision to speak to the political convention in prerecorded remarks from Jerusalem breaks with longstanding precedent of sitting secretaries of state avoiding partisan politics, particularly while abroad, and appears to violate guidance on political activities that Pompeo himself emphasized in a cable to diplomats just last month. It has rankled current and past State Department officials.” U.S. House Democrats immediately opened an investigation into possible violations of the Hatch Act.
“This week marks the most blatant violations of the Hatch Act so far because the current penalties do not discourage repeat offenses,” Quigley stated. “The RNC Act would finally make it clear that the American people will not accept unethical behavior from their leaders.”
Quigley charged that these events constitute “a chaotic tangle of official and campaign resources, and exactly the type of flagrant abuse that the Hatch Act is intended to prevent.” According to his office: “The Hatch Act currently penalizes violators through removal from federal service and civil penalties. However, these penalties have failed to prevent repeated violations.” The new act would increase penalties with fines of up to $50,000 and “would also define all of the White House, aside from the residence, as a federal building or federal property for purposes of the Hatch Act.”
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston immediately signed on as a co-sponsor.
According to Politico, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows pooh-poohed the complaints, saying, “Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares,” with the Beltway being the accepted boundaries of the Washington, D.C., political class.
U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush of Chicago replied by retweeting remarks from House colleague Don Beyer of Virgina stating: “The Hatch Act exists to stop the government from becoming an arm of political campaigns. It’s an anti-corruption law barring the misuse of public resources and positions. The government is supposed to work for the people, not just one person. That’s why we have the Hatch Act.”
Political pundit Renato Mariotti commented: “The Trump administration openly admits that they break the law. Their excuse is that no one cares. What they mean is that congressional Republicans won’t do anything about it, and they control the Executive Branch, so they can often get away with breaking the law.”