An environmental advocacy group has filed complaints against the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Forest Service, alleging they are violating the Hatch Act by blaming Democrats for the ongoing government shutdown.
HHS calls the shutdown “Democrat-led” on its homepage.
“The Radical Left Democrats shut down the government,” the Forest Service’s website reads.
The group, the Center for Biological Diversity, says HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Forest Service Chief Tom Schulz are violating the Hatch Act with their message, which prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch from engaging in political activity.
“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 statement to The Hill. “Trump has turned government websites into campaign billboards. This isn’t public service; it’s Trump fan fiction.”
Other government agencies have similar messaging, which has led to other lawsuits.
A federal employee union sued the Department of Education over altered out-of-office messages sent on behalf of furloughed workers that blame Democrats for the government shutdown.
“This whole-of-government approach to partisan messaging is unprecedented, and it makes a mockery of statutory prohibitions like the Hatch Act,” the complaint by the American Federation of Government Employees states.
The suit asks the court to block the Education Department from continuing the practice.
NBC reported last week that five department employees had put up nonpartisan out-of-office messages, only to see that they were changed — without their permission — to partisan ones.
The Trump administration has denied the banners violate the Hatch Act.
“It’s an objective fact that Democrats are responsible for the government shutdown, the Trump administration is simply sharing the truth with the American people,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said last week in a statement to Newsmax.
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