“Federal employees work for both Democrats and Republicans – even Kellyanne Conway,” is the title of the most recently published article by IPI Post Doc Researcher, Matthew May. The piece, published in The Conversation and republished at Salon.com and the Idaho Press-Tribune (among others), begins:
“Federal ethics lawyers determined earlier this month that White House adviser Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits a variety of political activities by federal employees. During two television appearances last year, Conway, a Republican, had encouraged Alabama voters to vote against the Democratic senate candidate in a special election.
Conway made her comments on television. That’s not the only arena where federal employees have crossed the line into prohibited political advocacy. They do it in their offices, at meetings and in memos. And in a world awash in social media, it has become much easier for people to share their views about politics digitally.
But government employees work for the people of the United States. Paid with the tax dollars of Democrats and Republicans, they are supposed to work in the public interest, not use the power of the federal government to pursue partisan political causes ”