Wrong Time, Wrong Place

The White House has more explaining to do about political briefings at federal agencies.

25 Apr 2007 // REMEMBER the PowerPoint campaign briefing that White House deputy political director Scott Jennings gave to political appointees at the General Services Administration -- the briefing that helpfully identified the GOP's top 20 House targets for 2008, the most vulnerable Democratic senators and the like? The one that inspired the GSA administrator, Lurita Alexis Doan, to ask her troops to think about what could be done to help "our candidates," according to six people present? (Ms. Doan doesn't recall.) It turns out the GSA presentation wasn't the only one of its kind. But we can't give you much more in the way of details, because the White House isn't providing them.

"There have been other briefings at other agencies in the past," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said in an e-mailed statement. Mr. Stanzel offered no details, although the White House was first asked this question nearly a month ago. If, as Mr. Stanzel contends, "it is entirely appropriate for the president's staff to provide informational briefings to appointees throughout the federal government about the political landscape in which they implement the president's policies and priorities," why not just offer a straightforward accounting of what's happened elsewhere in the government?

Mr. Stanzel's statement says that the Hatch Act, which regulates the political activities of government employees, "doesn't prohibit the giving of informational briefings to government employees." Agreed, but does it allow -- and, more fundamentally, does the administration really contend that it is appropriate even if legal -- for administration briefers, in government offices, to offer such politically charged assessments as "2008 House GOP Defense by District" or "Battle for the Senate 2008"?

The Congressional Research Service concluded in an analysis: "A 'PowerPoint' or other presentation which might arguably be merely 'informational' in certain contexts may raise concerns under Hatch Act interpretations when the sponsor and presenter is closely affiliated/identified with a partisan political campaign, invitations are directed only to 'political' employees of a department, and the objectives and agenda of the program appear to have partisan slant." Now, the Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the Hatch Act, is examining the matter.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, first asked the White House on March 28 for information about other briefings. This week, 25 Democratic senators signed a letter, organized by Sens. Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.), seeking those details. As Mr. Dorgan said at a news conference Monday, such sessions are "not about good government" but "about bad politics . . . politics at the wrong time, in the wrong place." If the White House disagrees, it ought to be willing to explain why.