A screenshot of a message on the website of the United States forest service which, according to some, violates the Hatch Federal Law against political activity.
Kirk Siegler/NPR
hide the legend
switch the legend
Kirk Siegler/NPR
Legal battles are preparing against the Trump administration because of the language it publishes on federal websites and the email of the government, accusing Democrats of the government’s closure.
The controversy relates to the language displayed at the top of the websites of federal agencies and in certain automated responses by email. They warn that public responses could be slow due to “the closure of radical left -wing democrats”. Democrats and a union representing federal workers claim that language violates the Hatch law of 1939, which prohibits employees of the executive power to do anything from supporters.
In a complaint filed with the office of the Special Advisor in the United States, the former Idaho Democratic legislator Todd Achilles said that this language constitutes a prohibited political message on public infrastructure.
“I have filed a complaint because we do not do politics with public lands,” Achilles at NPR told. “The forest service exists to serve all Americans, regardless of their political affiliation.”
However, it is not known how fast the complaint of Achilles will be treated. An automatic response email from the special advisor said on Tuesday that the Hatch Act unit was removed from its functions due to insufficient credits.
The US Ministry of Agriculture, which oversees the forest service, did not immediately respond to the request for NPR comments. But since the government was closed last week, the agency has also received automated by email in similar language. The agency’s absence emails and the website banners also indicate: President Trump clearly said he wanted to keep the government open and support those who feed, feed and dress the American people.
On Friday, the American Federation of Government employees, a federal union, continued the United States Ministry of Education against similar automated emails from this agency and sent a letter of cessation and abstention.
Federal retired land managers say that this language throws cold on the work of civil servants, many of which have already been the target of layoffs or early retirement in the Trump administration attempts to radically reduce federal bureaucracy.
Steve Ellis, former deputy director of the Bureau of Land Management under the Obama administration, said openly supporting political messages did not have their place on agencies’ websites.
“In our career, we have never seen anything like it,” said Ellis in an email.
