Waxman Summonses GSA Head Who Slandered Employees, in Another Case of Bush-Cheney Administration Smear Tactics

May 25 (LPAC)--The head of the General Services Administration (GSA), who has just been found to have violated the Hatch Act, has been summoned for a second round of questioning by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In a May 24 letter, committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman invited GSA Administrator Lurita Doan to appear before the committee on June 7, to be questioned about her statements attempting to discredit as "poor performers" a number of GSA employees who cooperated with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) in that office's investigation of Doan.

The trigger for the OSC investigation was a a January 26, 2007 meeting at GSA headquarters, in which GSA staff was subjected to a powerpoint presentation on the 2006 elections by Karl Rove's deputy Scott Jennings; at the end of the presentation, Doan asked, "how can we help our candidates?" -- a clear violation of the Hatch's Act's prohibition of an agency official using her authority to solicit employees for political activity.

Doan told OSC investigators that the employees who were witnesses against her were "poor performers" and disgruntled employees. But, as Waxman's letter points out, the OSC concluded that Doan's attacks on these employees were "purposefully misleading and false," and unsupported by the employees' performance reviews.

If this has a familiar ring to it, Waxman explains why. "Over the past five months, it's become clear that the Justice Department falsely raised issues about the competence of eight U.S. Attorneys who were dismissed last December," Waxman writes. "This tactic has been condemned across our country and by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. It would be remarkable if you adopted the same tactic...." Waxman warns Doan that, in addition to the statements about her employees, she should also be prepared to answer "other questions related to the veracity of your statements to the OSC and this Committee."