An environmental advocacy group has filed complaints under the Hatch Act against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Forest Service over what it described as “partisan” messaging blaming Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown.
Both the HHS and the Forest Service posted messages to their websites in the wake of the shutdown blaming Democrats.
A banner displayed on the HHS website as of Friday afternoon describes the government shutdown as “Democrat-led.”
As of Friday afternoon, a banner on the Forest Service website says, “The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government.”
“President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel, and clothe the American people,” it says.
In new complaints made public Friday, the Center for Biological Diversity argued that the move violates the Hatch Act, which limits the political activity of federal employees.
“Trump’s political appointees are so desperate for his approval, they’re willing to blatantly violate the law for a pat on the head,” Stephanie Kurose, deputy director of government affairs at the center, said in a written statement. “Trump has turned government websites into campaign billboards. This isn’t public service, it’s Trump fan fiction.”
The group accused HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz of violating the Hatch Act, calling the messaging “partisan” in a press release.
The complaints argue the officials are “ultimately responsible” for postings on their agency websites.
“Use of ‘Democrat-led’ as an epithet to describe a political party at odds with the current Administration strikes a partisan tone and seeks to influence public opinion regarding an ongoing political dispute. The banner attributes sole responsibility for the shutdown to the President’s political opponents,” said the complaint against Kennedy.
The agencies did not immediately respond to The Hill’s requests for comment.
The HHS and the Forest Service are not the only government agencies to incorporate such messaging. Banners on the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have displayed similar messages.
Meanwhile, various federal agencies also sent out emails to their employees blaming Democrats for the shutdown.
Ethics experts told The Hill at the time that such messages were unusual but not necessarily illegal.
But the SBA and the HUD have faced a similar complaint over the banners on their sites.
Meanwhile, a union representing federal employees sued the Department of Education, alleging that it “replaced employees’ out-of-office email messages with partisan language that blames ‘Democrat Senators’” without their consent.
