{"id":933371,"date":"2021-10-28T16:13:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T20:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=933371"},"modified":"2021-10-28T16:13:54","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T20:13:54","slug":"ethics-watchdog-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ethics-watchdog-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics Watchdog Files Hatch Act Complaint Against Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fethics-watchdog-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=933371&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1325250145-e1635369828206-639x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Protect the Public\u2019s Trust, an ethics watchdog group, filed a complaint against&nbsp;Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm with the&nbsp;Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate an alleged violation of the&nbsp;Hatch Act&nbsp;by appearing at a campaign event for a Democrat&nbsp;candidate for Virginia governor.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint filed with the OSC argued that the secretary&nbsp;allegedly violated the Hatch Act by appearing in her official&nbsp;capacity&nbsp;as a member of President Joe Biden\u2019s cabinet early in the day \u2014 appearing at Virginia\u2019s Portsmouth Marine Terminal to announce a wind turbine facility that will be built \u2014 then hours later&nbsp;delivered a campaign speech on behalf of Virginia gubernatorial candidate and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) at the Fairfax County Democratic Committee\u2019s event (FCDC Event) <a href=\"https:\/\/subscriber.politicopro.com\/article\/eenews\/2021\/10\/26\/citing-clean-energy-granholm-stumps-for-mcauliffe-in-va-282397\">called<\/a>, \u201cFairfax Meet and Greet with Jennifer Granholm.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The complaint <a href=\"https:\/\/www.protectpublicstrust.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Granholm-Hatch-Act-Complaint.pdf\">argued<\/a>:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<div class=\"page\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\" readability=\"18.5\">\n<blockquote readability=\"30\">\n<p>On October 25, Sec. Granholm appeared in her official capacity at Virginia\u2019s Portsmouth Marine Terminal to announce a wind turbine facility to be built nearby (Turbine Event). Later that day, she delivered a campaign speech on behalf of McAuliffe at the Fairfax County Democratic Committee\u2019s \u201cFairfax Meet and Greet with Jennifer Granholm\u201d event (FCDC Event) in Fairfax, Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>During the FCDC Event, Granholm reportedly referenced her work at the Department, discussing issues that fall under the auspices of DOE as well as specifically mentioning the Turbine Event held earlier that day, referred to President Biden as \u201cmy boss,\u201d and drew stark comparisons between Virginia\u2019s gubernatorial candidates that favored Terry McAuliffe.<\/p>\n<p>In a tweet containing video from the FCDC Event, Katherine White, co-founder of a Network NOVA, tagged Sec. Granholm\u2019s official, government account, not Granholm\u2019s personal account. Network NOVA is a political group whose self-described purpose is \u201cto take back our democracy by electing progressive candidates and holding them accountable once they are in office.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"6.5957446808511\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">How awesome to present <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecGranholm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SecGranholm<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WhenWeVoteWeWin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WhenWeVoteWeWin<\/a> swag! Plus <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DontTexasVirginia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DontTexasVirginia<\/a> signs! Thank you for coming to Fairfax \u2013 YOU ROCK! All eyes on Virginia! Democracy is on the line. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WomenGetItDone?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WomenGetItDone<\/a> \ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BlueWave?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BlueWave<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Xko6IM9Fuz\">pic.twitter.com\/Xko6IM9Fuz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Katherine White \ud83c\udf0a #DemCastVA #Grassroots (@kittydoor12) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kittydoor12\/status\/1452803256866934784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 26, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Office of Special Counsel <a href=\"https:\/\/osc.gov\/Services\/Pages\/HatchAct.aspx\">explains<\/a> the&nbsp;Hatch Act&nbsp;put limits on some types of political activities of federal employees:<\/p>\n<blockquote readability=\"15\">\n<p>The Hatch Act, a federal law passed in 1939, limits certain political activities of federal employees, as well as some state, D.C., and local government employees who work in connection with&nbsp;federally funded programs.&nbsp;\u200bThe law\u2019s purposes are to ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion, to protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace, and to ensure that federal employees are advanced based on merit and not based on political affiliation.\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b \u200b\u200b<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Michael Chamberlain, Director of Protect the Public\u2019s Trust, told Breitbart News that&nbsp;\u201cAcross Administrations from Julian Castro to Kellyanne Conway to Jen Psaki and now Jennifer Granholm, this type of behavior is problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn what appears to be a pattern for Secretary Granholm, it seems she was at an official event and went so far as to reference her duties at DOE in that event to bolster her endorsement of Candidate McAuliffe,\u201d Chamberlain continued. \u201cPublic service is a public trust, and appearances matter. PPT is filing a Hatch Act complaint with the Office of Special Counsel. All Americans should expect a vigorous investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/10\/20\/ethics-watchdog-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm\/\">complaint<\/a> from the&nbsp;Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) was filed against&nbsp;Granholm last week for allegedly violating the Hatch Act during an interview with&nbsp;Emily Tisch Sussman for a Marie Claire Instagram Live video while acting in her official capacity&nbsp;as a member of President Joe Biden\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\" readability=\"36\">\n<p>The FACT complaint noted that the secretary was introduced as&nbsp;the \u201cEnergy Secretary,\u201d and her discussion quickly became political, talking about the \u201cimportance of electing progressive Democrats to help pass President Biden\u2019s spending plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><i>Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow him on <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jacobmbliss\"><i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Protect the Public\u2019s Trust, an ethics watchdog group, filed a complaint against\u00a0Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm with the\u00a0Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to investigate an alleged violation of the\u00a0Hatch Act\u00a0by appearing &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-933371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}