Federal Watchdog Files Yet Another Hatch Act Complaint with Biden Admin, This Time at DOT

Several of the Department of Transportation’s federal employees appeared to violate the Hatch Act in FOIA emails obtained by PPT.

One might expect that, when the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) rules certain language to be campaign slogans — including “Make America Great Again,” “MAGA,” and “Finish the Job” — and advises federal employees against using said slogans while performing their official duties, they would comply.

Sadly, that has often not been the case for the Biden Administration, and that disobedience has permeated across the federal government, including at the White House. Government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT) filed a complaint with OSC alleging further violations of the Hatch Act within the Biden Administration, this time by several Department of Transportation (DOT) officials who used campaign slogans in official emails with all political appointees, including Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Emails obtained by PPT through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) found that Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Assistant Administrator for Communications Matt Lehner, Press Secretary Kerry Arndt, and Assistant to the Secretary and Director of Public Affairs Dani Simons all used the terms “extreme MAGA Republicans” and “Finish the Job” in official communications, including with Buttigieg, with the terms originating from individuals within the White House.

One March 2023 email between Lehner and Arndt included talking points advising Buttigieg to say during a Dallas press conference that “extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress” were behind a bill they claimed would “ship manufacturing jobs overseas; increase health care, energy, broadband, and prescription drug costs for working families, not funding for rail and aviation safety.” A second batch of talking points prepared by Lehner for Buttigieg’s March 2023 Arkansas appearance re-emphasized the usage of the barred political slogans “MAGA” and “Finish the Job.” Another March 2023 email from Dani Simons to “DOT-Political-Appointees” entitled “Investing in America podium signs & message guidance” shows Simons include a document labeled “Investing in America-Event in a Box.” The document’s “Key Message Points on Investing in America” again uses the “extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress” language, which is echoed in a handout attachment in the same email.

As of 2021, there are 91 political appointees at DOT — meaning Simons may have committed as many as 364 Hatch Act violations. This is on top of it appearing that the material Simons forwarded to political appointees originated from the White House, indicated by the attachments being designated in her email as coming from the “WH” and that the “IIA Event in a Box” PDF that provided standardized signage, other written materials, and messaging for events that could be used by any agency. This means that it is highly likely that White House staffers not only gave DOT materials that violate the Hatch Act, but they also disseminated it across the federal government in order to “tell a unified story.”

“The emails obtained by PPT detail a disturbing, overarching rejection of federal ethics laws by the Biden Administration across several agencies,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain said. “Americans are tired of these blatant violations of federal law by the self-described most ethical and transparent administration in history, especially when they see it happening from the White House all the way down to the Department of Transportation.”

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