{"id":954794,"date":"2021-11-02T17:29:47","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T21:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=954794"},"modified":"2021-11-02T17:29:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T21:29:49","slug":"jennifer-granholm-violated-hatch-act-in-maine-elections-watchdog-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jennifer-granholm-violated-hatch-act-in-maine-elections-watchdog-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Granholm Violated Hatch Act in Maine Elections, Watchdog Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/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%2Fjennifer-granholm-violated-hatch-act-in-maine-elections-watchdog-says%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=954794&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 readability=\"28.255319148936\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/\">Biden Administration<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Energy secretary urged voters to vote &#8216;no&#8217; on ballot initiative opposing power line project<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"491\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Granholm-736x491-1.jpeg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Granholm-scaled-e1635884261149.jpeg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Granholm-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Granholm-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Granholm-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Granholm-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Granholm-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/Granholm-1400x933.jpeg 1400w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tEnergy Secretary Jennifer Granholm  \/  Getty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/matthew-foldi\/\" title=\"Posts by Matthew Foldi\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Matthew Foldi<\/a> \u2022 November 2, 2021 5:14 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"86.774085263511\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A watchdog group hit Energy Secretary Jennifer <span class=\"il\">Granholm <\/span>with a Hatch Act complaint over her overt political activism on her official social media account in the leadup to Tuesday&#8217;s elections in Maine.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/2021.11.01-Granholm-2nd-Hatch-Act.pdf\">complaint<\/a>, sent Tuesday by the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, says <span class=\"il\">Granholm<\/span> illegally campaigned against a ballot initiative in Maine by using her official, taxpayer-funded Twitter account.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Maine ballot initiative in question, which would prohibit construction of a proposed power line project in the state, is the most expensive ballot initiative fight in Maine\u2019s history; groups have raised over $98 million in support and opposition to it. Granholm last week used her official Twitter account to urge voters to vote against the initiative, promising the costly green energy project would save the state money, protect jobs, and create &#8220;cleaner, cheaper energy&#8221; for the state.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;By using an official government channel of communication, Secretary Granholm both indicated the federal government endorsed and encouraged citizens to vote a certain way on a ballot question, and used a taxpayer-funded resource to do so,&#8221; the complaint states. &#8220;Secretary <span class=\"il\">Granholm<\/span> has apparently violated the Hatch Act again.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"11.622641509434\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NECEC_ME?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NECEC_ME<\/a> transmission line will bring clean energy to New England and reduce carbon emissions equivalent to taking 700k cars off the road. I hope Mainers vote NO on ONE to keep this project moving and reliable, affordable, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CleanEnergy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CleanEnergy<\/a> flowing!<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s what&#8217;s at stake \ud83d\udc471\/3 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Cl2DFmbPa9\">pic.twitter.com\/Cl2DFmbPa9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary Jennifer Granholm (@SecGranholm) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecGranholm\/status\/1453798870903787520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 28, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The complaint is the latest against the energy secretary, who has used interviews in her official capacity to urge voters to elect Democrats. In the last two weeks, watchdogs have cited <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/10\/27\/ethics-watchdog-files-hatch-act-complaint-against-energy-secretary-jennifer-granholm-2\/\">Granholm&#8217;s campaign speech on behalf of Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe<\/a> and an interview in which she acknowledged she is subject to the Hatch Act, then proceeded to <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/bidens-energy-secretary-violated-hatch-act-watchdog-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/bidens-energy-secretary-violated-hatch-act-watchdog-says\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635953109910000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH_Hvt12NLHRPix59ZY3nwZBMXsGg\" data-mt-detrack-inspected=\"true\">violate<\/a> it anyway by calling on viewers to support progressive candidates.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;I&#8217;m subject to something called the Hatch Act, which means I can&#8217;t advocate for people to call their members of Congress,&#8221; <span class=\"il\">Granholm<\/span> said. &#8220;If I weren&#8217;t subject to the Hatch Act, I&#8217;m sure you know I would be, but I am so I can&#8217;t do that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While the Hatch Act traditionally applies to executive branch appointees illegally campaigning for candidates, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust says it applies to ballot initiatives as well. &#8220;Executive agencies have included ballot initiatives when defining political activity allowed while not on duty,&#8221; the watchdog&#8217;s complaint reads. &#8220;Moreover, in this case the advocacy was done with official government resources and on an official government account that implies endorsement.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Biden Administration Energy secretary urged voters to vote &#8216;no&#8217; on ballot initiative opposing power line project  Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm \/ Getty Images  Matthew &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"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-954794","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\/954794","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\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954794\/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=954794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}