A new government report concludes that more than a dozen top members of the Trump administration violated the Hatch Act during Donald Trump’s tenure, thumbing their noses — with Trump’s support — at the legally mandated separation between governing and campaigning as the 2020 election approached. Special Counsel Henry Kerner wrote that the violations amounted to “a taxpayer-funded campaign apparatus within the upper echelons of the executive branch.”
The report highlights the central problem with the 1939 law: Its enforcement depends entirely upon the sitting president. Pending legislation can and should change that.
The act prohibits most executive branch government employees from engaging in political campaigning while on the job or on government property. The president and vice president are exempt, but most presidential underlings are required to leave their partisan activities at home.
