ALBANY, N.Y. (WRGB) — The Government Shutdown appears to be headed into another week, likely through Election Day on Tuesday.
As the shutdown continues, members of the federal government continue to be vocal in blaming Democrats for the shutdown. At the beginning of the shutdown, a video of Kristi Noem playing in airports received a lot of attention, and in the case of Albany International Airport, was taken down, with Hatch Act concerns.
“[Republicans] don’t understand that there’s a fine line between political acts and official acts, and that sharp line needs to be maintained. And when you’re using public funds, taxpayer dollars, to promote your propaganda, political propaganda, it’s unacceptable,” Albany Democratic Rep. Paul Tonko said at the time.
On Thursday, the Department of Veterans Affairs continuing the federal government’s message, sending out a statement which used the word “Democrat” six times, saying in part, “The Democrats’ decision to shut down the federal government has forced nearly 37,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees to be furloughed or continue working without pay.”
Republican Senator John Cornyn from Texas was asked about the messages, in light of some of Hatch Act concerns this week.
“It’s a true statement,” he said. “[The federal government] guilty of telling the truth.”
CBS6 spoke with Stephanie Rapp-Tully, a partner at law firm Tully Rinckey PLLC on Thursday, about the legal parameters surrounding the Hatch Act. She says it applies to both individuals, and groups.
“Activity directed to that big success or failure of a political party,” Rapp-Tully said. “So it could be, ‘boo, that political party’…that could be a Hatch Act violation. So, no, it doesn’t have to be a particular candidate. It could be party related. It could be a grouping. It could be a subsection of a party, you know, there are subsections, right? All of it related to a campaign or politics, particularly leading up to an election. That’s usually when we see these are at issue.”
To trigger potential ramifications though, she said there needs to be a complaint filed, which doesn’t always happen.
“There are times where the Hatch Act has not been as enforced as other times, and even though someone might have violated the Hatch Act, it takes that next step of a complaint and an enforcement of it to get a responsive action. They’re probably people who might have violated the Hatch Act, but never saw anything of it, because no one ever complained about it, no one ever reported it, and it was never investigated. It was never sanctioned. So, yeah, it takes interpretation. It takes someone complaining about it. It takes an investigation in order for it to be considered a Hatch Act violation.”
