Lynne Patton barred from federal employment
Former Trump HUD official Lynne Patton has agreed to a four year ban from federal employment following an investigation stemming from a Hatch Act complaint by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. CREW President Noah Bookbinder released the following statement:
“Even in an administration marked by a callous disregard for ethics laws, Lynne Patton stood out. What made her behavior particularly egregious was that she not only used her position for political purposes, she misled and exploited public housing residents for political gain, showing little regard for the people she was supposed to be helping and the ethics rules she was supposed to be following. Lynne Patton deserves accountability and deserves to be barred from federal employment. It is gratifying to see real consequences for outrageous misconduct. We thank the Office of Special Counsel and Merit Systems Protection Board for their hard work toward ensuring an ethical government for the American people.”
The Office of Special Counsel previously referred Patton to the Merit Systems Protection Board for disciplinary action after she violated the Hatch Act by intentionally filming a video with New York City Housing Authority residents to air at the Republican National Convention and lying to those tenants about it, telling them the video was a nonpartisan project. In a settlement agreement, “Patton admitted that she engaged in activity in violation of the Hatch Act and agreed to serve a 48-month debarment from federal employment and to pay a $1000 fine.”