Environmental advocates have lodged a Hatch Act complaint against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Forest Service. They claim these agencies are sending “partisan” messages that blame Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown.
Both the HHS and the Forest Service have posted messages on their websites that criticize Democrats in response to the shutdown.
As of Friday afternoon, banners on the HHS website labeled the shutdown as being “Democrat-led.”
Similarly, the Forest Service website claimed, “The radical left Democrats have shut down the government.”
One message also indicated that “President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and help those who feed, fuel, and clothe Americans.”
The Center for Biological Diversity, in a new complaint made public on Friday, argues that these actions violate the Hatch Act, which limits political activities of federal employees.
Stephanie Croce, the center’s deputy director for government affairs, remarked, “Trump’s political appointees are so desperate for Trump’s approval that they are willing to blatantly violate the law to get a pat on the head. Trump turned a government website into a campaign billboard. This is not a public service. It’s Trump fan fiction.”
The group has labeled the messaging as “partisan” in their press release and accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Forest Service Secretary Tom Schultz of breaching the Hatch Act.
The complaint states that these officials are “ultimately responsible” for the content on government websites.
According to the complaint against Kennedy, using “Democrat-led” as a descriptor for the opposing party fosters a partisan environment and seeks to sway public opinion on the current political conflict. The banner puts sole blame for the shutdown on the political adversaries of the president.
The HHS has yet to respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
Beyond HHS and the Forest Service, other government bodies have adopted similar messaging. The Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have also displayed comparable banners.
In addition, several federal agencies sent emails to their employees attributing blame for the government shutdown to Democrats.
Ethics experts have mentioned that while such messages are atypical, they are not necessarily illegal.
However, both SBA and HUD have been the subjects of similar complaints regarding their website banners.
Also, labor unions representing federal employees have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education, claiming that the agency “replaced employees’ external email messages with partisan language criticizing ‘Democratic Senators'” without consent from the employees.
