Back in December, in the heat of a special election for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions when he became Attorney General of the United States, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway went on Fox “News” and took verbal shots at Doug Jones, the Democratic challenger to Republican nominee/accused pedophile Roy Moore:
“The only endorsement that matters in this race is President Trump’s. And he came out questioning the ideology and the vote of Doug Jones. He’ll be a reliable vote for tax hikes. He’ll be a reliable vote against border security. He’ll be a reliable vote against national security and keeping ISIS in retreat. He’ll be the reliable vote against the Second Amendment and against life.”
That statement was a direct violation of the Hatch Act, and the Office of Special Counsel has now informed the White House that Conway — on two separate occasions — broke federal law which prohibits executive branch employees from engaging in political activity.
Shortly after Conway made the comments which landed her in hot water, former Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub commented:
“The willfulness of Conway’s violation and her openly expressed disdain for efforts to hold her accountable for complying with ethics requirements make clear that anything less than removal from the federal service or a lengthy unpaid suspension will not deter future misconduct on her part.”
However, don’t hold your breath waiting for Conway to be kicked to the curb. Under federal regulations, violations of the Hatch Act are referred to the president for any disciplinary action, and that seems unlikely coming from a man as unethical as Donald Trump.
White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah tried to dismiss any concern over Conway’s statements when they were referred to the OSC in 2017:
“Ms. Conway did not advocate for or against the election of a candidate, and specifically declined to encourage Alabamans to vote a certain way.”
Fortunately, Conway and the president’s efforts did nothing to save Moore’s candidacy, and Doug Jones is now the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in deep red Alabama in two and half decades.
That’s what we refer to as sweet karma.