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The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has completed its investigation of General Services Administration Director Lurita Doan on charges of violating the Hatch Act. The charges were found to be correct. The Federal Times reports:
An Office of Special Counsel report has found that General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal officials from partisan political activity while on the job, sources say.
The report addresses a Jan. 26 lunch meeting at GSA headquarters attended by Doan and about 40 political appointees, some of whom participated by videoconference. During the meeting, Scott Jennings, the White House deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation that included slides listing Democratic and Republican seats the White House viewed as vulnerable in 2008, a map of contested Senate seats and other information on 2008 election strategy. According to meeting participants, Doan asked after the call how GSA could help “our candidates.”
Doan will now be permitted to reply to the report before further action is taken. The U.S. Special Counsel may recommend that Doan be fired and that further steps be taken, potentially including the opening of a criminal investigation against her.
More from Scott Horton:
No Comment — April 12, 2013, 11:11 am
A new report from Seton Hall University exposes government surveillance of attorney-client conversations
No Comment, Six Questions — March 18, 2013, 9:00 am
Rashid Khalidi on how the United States sustains the failure of the Israel-Palestine peace process
No Comment, Six Questions — February 4, 2013, 9:00 am
Alex Gibney on his documentary investigating the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of child sex-abuse cases


Percentage by which the risk of type 2 diabetes increases for every two hours a day that a person watches television:

Two bottled ghosts—of an old man and a young girl—were sold at auction in New Zealand.

The practice of sexualized eyeball licking was causing conjunctivitis in Japanese sixth graders.