Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue solicited votes for President Trump in violation of the 1939 federal law that bars partisan activity by federal officials while on the job, said a complaint filed by a good-government group. The complaint cites Perdue’s comments at a produce packing shed in North Carolina, where Trump announced a $1-billion extension of the administration’s food-box giveaway program.
“The Hatch Act is intended to prevent federal employees from engaging in this exact kind of partisan political activity while on duty, and yet officials like Secretary Perdue appear to take pride in their public and deliberate illegal conduct,” said Donald Sherman, deputy director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
CREW filed its complaint with the federal Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that oversees ethics and civil service rules. Separately, six House Democrats asked the USDA ethics office to determine if Perdue’s “statement advocating for President Trump’s re-election at an official event” violated the Hatch Act. Penalties for violations range from a reprimand to removal from office. The White House has shown little interest in enforcing the law against high-level officials, reported Forbes.
During a presidential visit to the Flavor 1st Growers and Packers in Mills River, North Carolina, Perdue said the food-box program was “an outpouring of compassion … And that’s what’s going to continue to happen — four more years — if America gets out and votes for this man, Donald J. Trump.” The audience outside the packing shed applauded and chanted, “Four more years! Four more years! Four more years,” according to the White House transcript.
A few moments before that, Perdue said the “throngs of people lining both sides of the road” leading to Flavor 1st “were a part of those forgotten people who voted for you in 2016. And I’ve got better news for you: They and many others are going to vote for you for four more years in 2020.”