Uncovered: New Emails Reveal Huge Scandal The Obama Admin Swept Under The Rug
A news outlet has acquired emails showing the...
Avatar of James Beattie James Beattie ? September 15, 2014
A news outlet has acquired emails showing the Department of Labor coordinating with The White House discussing whether or not to release certain portions of former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis? schedule. Solis left the Obama administration after the President?s first term amidst a quiet FBI investigation.
Emails provided to The Daily Caller by nonprofit firm Cause of Action reveal that the White House thanked the Labor Department for ?flagging? a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by Americans for Limited Government, and asking specifically which conservative group was making the FOIA request.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released a tape in July suggesting that Solis was raising money for Organizing for America during her time in office.
?Hi, this is Hilda Solis calling, just calling you off the record here? Wanted to ask you if you could help us get folks organized to come to a fundraiser that we?re doing for Organizing for America for Obama campaign on Friday at La Fonda at 6 PM.?
Fundraising by seated cabinet secretaries is banned under the Hatch Act.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed the authenticity of the tape, saying it was released as part of an ?ongoing law enforcement investigation,? according to Hot Air.
Susan Crabtree of The Washington Examiner asserted in July that her position as Labor Secretary exempts her from answering Hatch Act violations.
A complaint sent to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that investigates allegations of administrative violations of fundraising rules by federal officials, triggered an inquiry. It alleged that Solis left a voicemail message on a subordinate employees government-issued Blackberry in which she asked the employee to contribute toward and assist with organizing others to attend a fundraiser for Obama?s re-election campaign.
The Hatch Act prohibits employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president, vice president, and other high-level officials, from engaging in partisan political activity, and specifically bars employees below the policy-making level in the executive branch from engaging in ?any active part? in political campaigns?
While Solis would be exempt from the Act, her subordinates most likely would not be.
Solis was elected to The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in June.
H/T Patrick Howley of The Daily Caller
Read more at http://www.westernjournalism.com/emails-wh-labor-dept-hid-former-secs-schedule/#maWmZ2fjcbef2b8v.99
