Political Email by Federal Employees

Sending partisan emails on your government email service is getting to be a hot topic for OSC Hatch Act prosecution.  Prior to the 2004 election, OSC sent out an advisory about sending political emails to co-workers and possible Hatch Act violations that could result when such emails are sent to large groups of co-workers.  The OSC filed two cases on this issue in August, prior to the 2004 election, and as of January 14, 2004, has filed two more cases on this issue.

The OSC noted in a press release about these most recent cases:

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) filed two similar complaints for disciplinary action against Kansas City, Mo. based Social Security Administration (SSA) employees for sending politically partisan electronic mail messages while on duty, in violation of the Hatch Act.

The complaint against Michael Davis alleges that he sent an e-mail message to about 27 of his SSA coworkers while on duty and in his federal office building. The message contained a widely-circulated picture of President George W. Bush in front of an American flag with the statement “I Vote the Bible.” The text of the message contains several statements in support of President Bush, a negative statement about Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry, and a statement urging that the reader to “Pass along the ‘I Vote the Bible’ button.”

A similar complaint against Leslye Sims, alleges that she sent an e-mail message to 22 people while she was on duty and in her federal office building. The subject of the e-mail was: “Why I am supporting John Kerry for President?” and is presented as a letter that appears to be written by John Eisenhower, son of President Eisenhower. The e-mail contained several reasons why the reader should vote for Presidential candidate, John Kerry, and not support the Republican Party.

The cases were filed with the Merit Systems Protection Board.   The MSPB decides if disciplinary action is  warranted, with presumptive punishment being removal, but minimum punishment is a 30 day suspension without pay.

For more information see http://www.osc.gov/documents/press/2005/pr05_02.htm