The Office of Special Counsel has reprimanded NASA Administrator Michael Griffin for what seemed to be an official endorsement of then Congressman Tom DeLay, a violation of the Hatch Act that prohibits certain political activity by Government Employees.With DeLay in the audience, Griffin thanked the lawmaker for his support of NASA at the annual Space Center Rotary Club of Houston's gala sponsored by the National Award for Space Achievement Foundation.
"The space program has had no better friend in its entire existence than Tom DeLay," Griffin said during the event. "He's still with us and we need to keep him there."
The Hatch Act, in general, prohibits government employees from endorsing a candidate, raise money for political purposes, campaigning on government time, or use their position for political purposes. Griffin is a political appointee and have different rules, although he is still a government employee.
The OSC has a couple of Hatch Violations posted on their website to give an idea of what can happen.It is important for federal employees to realize that sending e-mails on the job that advocate for a candidate for office may subject them to discipline and possibly the loss of their jobs. The Hatch Act forbids political activity in the federal workplace. No political activity means no political activity, even if it is only one time.”Well......unless you are the Administrator. BTW. Just a few weeks after that endorsement, DeLay quit. NASA officials were mum on the race after that.
This was just one of the many times NASA was used as a political backdrop for Tom DeLay. During the 2004 election DeLay was brought into NASA, which was not in his district at the time, for what was clearly a political event at the Gilruth Recreation Center. NASA has since stopped these types of activities after a number of complaints.
9 comments:
Griffin's obvious endorsement of DeLay was as surprising as it was outrageous. Clearly it was a case of an administrator sucking up to a powerful politician for the sake of protecting an agency budget. Mike Griffin dropped down a whole lot of notches in my assessment of his ability in just those few words, not that he cares about what I think. But the fact is that NASA and the Bay Area Economic Partnership - which is a supposedly nonpartisan, nonprofit organization - routinely honor and suck up to powerful politicians, giving them awards for this or that BS. It would have taken a crane to have hauled them out of DeLay's ass. I hope that Griffin et al are feeling appropriately chastised - finally.
"Bloch decided he could not prove that Griffin's remarks violated the Hatch Act"
A for effort anyway.....
Keep stretching.
Uh....where was the stretch? he got reprimanded. That was the point of the entire post.
well uhmmm idonknow maybe when you say things like.....
"This was just one of the many times NASA was used as a political backdrop for Tom DeLay."
......When in reality that could not and was not be proved. Had Nasa actually been used as a political backdrop in this circumstance, it would have been more than a reprimand.
It may have started out as the point to the post but by the time john finished he had twisted to more then a reprimand. Obviously a typical exaggeration of the truth consistant throughout this blog.
just wanted to set the record straight, mission accomplished... good day.
I said "GOOD DAY!"
"GOOD DAY" That's funny.
Anon - of course NASA was a political backdrop for DeLay. Tom DeLay is a
Christian evangelical fundamentalist, a creationist. Earth is the center of the universe according to his religious views. NASA is about science, which would be completely meaningless, even heretical, to Tom DeLay except as it was a source of votes.
Bloch is a political hack. He admitted that any reasonable person would take Griffin's remarks as a violation of the HATCH Act.
Hence, by his own logic, Block is not reasonable.
Just google Bloch and see how he is Bush's tool.
Anon - of course NASA was a political backdrop for DeLay. Tom DeLay is a Christian evangelical fundamentalist, a creationist. Earth is the center of the universe according to his religious views.
That's contradictory. Why would a Christian evangelical fundamentalist ally himself with a scientific organization?
You suggest that DeLay is a true believer, and then note he's allied himself with NASA.
That suggests he's not as extreme and uncompromising in his beliefs as you think.
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