An ethics expert who identifies as a Democrat and worked under the Bush administration blasted the Biden administration on Friday for repeated violations of the Hatch Act.
The expert, Richard Painter, said that Biden administration officials such as Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates should be dismissed if they continue to use campaign slogans in an official capacity.
His recommendation came after the Office of Special Counsel said that the repeated use of the phrase ‘MAGA’ in an official capacity is a violation of the Hatch Act, whether it’s used positively or disparagingly.
“I think that’s critically important that they stop doing it,” he continued. “If the Office of Special Counsel says they need to stop doing it, that means they need to stop doing it, and we can’t have them flipping the bird at this. They’ve got to comply with the Office of Special Counsel’s interpretation of the Hatch Act.”
NEW: Ethics expert Richard Painter, who ran for Congress as a Democrat last cycle, on @WhiteHouse officials seeming to shrug off the Hatch Act: "If the Office of Special Counsel says they need to stop doing it, that means they need to stop doing it, and we can't have them…
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) June 16, 2023
Despite guidance from the OSC telling White House officials to stop using the term, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates sent a memo Wednesday that continued to call people who opposed Biden’s agenda ‘MAGA’. Bates said in the memo that the “main economic agenda item” of Republicans is “MAGA tax welfare for the richest Americans and giant corporations, at the expense of continuing to grow our economy by investing in America.”
Painter said that ‘repeated’ or ‘serious violations of the Hatch Act should result in being ‘dismissed from federal service’,
“If someone keeps doing it when they’re told not to do it, they should get fired,” Painter said. “Or if they engage in a serious act of the Hatch Act one time, they should be fired.”
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Pierre denied any wrongdoing and even threw her superiors under the bus after being asked about the controversy during a press conference, saying that she was given the ‘sign-off’ to use the phrase ‘MAGA Republican’.
"Do you believe that you violated the Hatch Act with those comments about 'MAGA Republicans'?"
Karine Jean-Pierre: "I was given the sign-off to use that terminology!" pic.twitter.com/piaXdAUYoR
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 13, 2023
Biden has not always set the best example for White House staff, and has repeatedly disparaged his political opponents as ‘MAGA Republicans’ in official speeches and using his official Presidential Twitter account, as opposed to his personal one.
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“The MAGA ideology looks at America and sees carnage and darkness and despair. ” He said in September of last year.
The MAGA ideology looks at America and sees carnage and darkness and despair.
I see an America with an unlimited future.
An America that is about to take off.
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 3, 2022
He also used the phrase over a dozen times during a September speech in Philadelphia that received intense criticism and was labeled divisive by Republicans.
Painter reiterated that ‘MAGA’ is a campaign slogan and that using it in an official capacity should result in a White House employee’s dismissal.
“I mean, that’s the presumptive penalty for either a serious violation of the Hatch Act or repeated violations when you’ve been told not to do it is get fired,” Painter said. “Once the Office of Special Counsel says, ‘Don’t use MAGA, that’s a campaign slogan,’ and somebody keeps doing it and anybody else does it when they’ve been told not to, then boom, they should be gone.”
In its memo, the Office of Special Counsel said that the phrase is still being used as a slogan for a ‘candidate for partisan political office’ and is thus prohibited.
“MAGA remains the campaign slogan of a current candidate for partisan political office, and therefore, its use constitutes political activity,” the OSC said in their memo.
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