Education Secretary Accused Of Violating Hatch Act
President Joe Biden’s Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, has been accused of violating the Hatch Act and calls began for him to be removed from his position.
The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from taking part in partisan political activities while in office. The measure, which was passed in 1939, is designed to “ensure that federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan fashion.”
On Thursday, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach (R) and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) accused Cardona of violating the Hatch Act twice in response to two different political statements he made this month, as well as using government resources for political activities. They have called on the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) to remove him from his position as head of the Department of Education.
The Republican attorneys general cited a July 15 letter from Cardona to student loan borrowers, where the education secretary used partisan language to attack Republicans for blocking the Biden administration’s efforts to steal American taxpayers’ money to erase student loan debt.
The letter stated, “Let me be clear: President Biden and I are determined to lower costs for student loan borrowers, to make repaying student debt affordable and realistic, and to build on our separate efforts that have already provided relief to 4.75 million Americans – no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us.”
Kobach and Knudsen also cited comments made on July 18 by a Department of Education spokesperson, who declared that the Biden administration “won’t stop fighting against Republican elected officials’ efforts to raise costs on millions of their own constituents’ student loan payments.” While Cardona did not directly make this statement, he is ultimately responsible for his employees’ conduct.
The Republican attorneys general have argued that these two statements were clear violations of the Hatch Act designed to sway the outcome of the upcoming November election, and thus Cardona should be immediately terminated from his position.
“In view of the repeated, flagrant violations of the Hatch Act, a significant penalty is warranted,” Knudsen wrote. “We note that OSC has recommended a President’s senior advisor be removed from federal service for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act by making statements directed at the success of a President’s reelection campaign. OSC should follow that precedent here.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Education refuses to acknowledge the political nature of those statements, claiming that they were factual and designed to inform student loan borrowers of the current situation.
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