Sebelius Gets a "pass"

[Gerry Clinchy]

.............

ABC News' Jake Tapper asked White House Press Secretary Jay Carney about Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violating the Hatch Act, at today's press briefing. Carney responded that Sec. Sebelius had made an "inadvertent error based on extemporaneous remarks."


The U.S. Office of Special Counsel claimed Sec. Sebelius had made “extemporaneous partisan remarks” during a speech in her official capacity earlier this year.


The Hatch Act prohibits employees (civil servants) in the executive branch of the federal government from engaging in partisan political activity.


The standard penalty for violating the Hatch Act is termination. According to OSC, any “employee who violates the Hatch Act shall be removed from their position, and funds appropriated for the position from which removed thereafter may not be used to pay the employee or individual.

[Gerry Clinchy]

Actual Transcript:

JAKE TAPPER, ABC NEWS: One other subject, did the President have any response to the Office of Special Council report on Secretary Sebelius violating the Hatch act?
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE: I have not spoken to him about it, I think that Secretary Sebelius has responded to that. And made sure that what was in... her remarks were extemporaneous, the Health and Human Services department has since re-classified the event to meet the correct standard, the US Treasury has been reimbursed and Sec. Sebelius has met with ethics experts to ensure that this never happens again.
The error was immediately acknowledged by the Secretary, promptly corrected and no taxpayer dollars were misused.
TAPPER: Is it safe to assume, that as far as the President is concerned that’s the end of the matter?
CARNEY: Well, I think it’s safe to assume that action has been taken by Secretary and department to remedy what was the result of an inadvertent error based on extemporaneous remarks and she acknowledged it immediately, promptly corrected it and ensured that no tax payer dollars were used and that the department re-classified the event to make sure that the correct standards were met.

[ARay11]

it's okay because bush made her do it.