Why is the burden on me to "prove" it isn't illegal? I mean, can you cite to a single instance of someone at any time ever being convicted or even indicted under this law for offering a job of someone contemplating a primary run?
The fact of the matter is that your interpretation of this law is something new and novel and it is not incumbent on me to show that the types of things that presidents have done for decades is not illegal.
No, my argument isn't they did it toos. My argument is that this has never been considered a criminal act by anyone anywhere until Darrel Issa and his ilk decided they wanted to gin up a nontroversy. And they took you hook, line and sinker.
# On November 18, 2008, Vanderburgh County, Indiana Commission President Jeff Korb filed an injunction against Steven Melcher, who defeated Korb in the November 4, 2008 general election, citing the Hatch Act. Melcher is the facilities manager for the Community Action Program of Evansville (CAPE). CAPE is an agency that administers Head Start, LIHEAP heating assistance and Section 8 housing assistance among other federally-funded programs in a three-county area of southwestern Indiana. [1]
# On October 6, 2008, federal investigators announced that they were investigating Sheriff Mike Scott of Lee County, Florida for possible violations of the Hatch Act. The previous day, Sheriff Scott spoke, in uniform, on stage, at a rally for presidential candidate John McCain.[2][3]
# On May 6, 2008, FBI agents raided Scott Bloch's offices. NPR and the Wall Street Journal reported that the raids were in relation to an investigation into allegations of obstruction of justice by Bloch's office. [1] The New York Times reported that the investigation concerned whether Bloch had hired an outside company to "scrub" computer files to prevent an inquiry into whether he had violated the Hatch Act by mixing politics with his job, which is to shield whistleblowers.[4]
# In November 2007, Terre Haute, Indiana mayor Kevin Burke challenged the candidacy of then-mayor-elect Duke Bennett under provisions of the Act. In November 2008, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled that Bennett, who took office after a Vigo County, Indiana judge ruled that he was eligible to serve, was ineligible under the terms of the Act. The ruling is nonbinding, pending Bennett's appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court.
# In June 2007, Lurita Alexis Doan, then Administrator of the General Services Administration, was found by the United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) of violating the Hatch Act when she took part in a video conference with Karl Rove and other White House officials, and sent letters asking how to help Republican politicians get elected, and was accused by Special Counsel Scott Bloch of lying to deliberately mislead investigators.[5]
# In 2006, the Utah Democratic Party challenged the candidacy of Ogden City Police Chief Jon Greiner for State Senate. The challenge was upheld by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel because the year prior the Ogden City Police Department received a federal grant to help pay for bullet proof vests. Jon Greiner appealed the decision, remained on the ballot, and won election. He now serves as a Utah State Senator while the results of the appeal are unknown.[6]
# On about July 29, 2004, the United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC) cited the Hatch Act while ordering NASA to remove photos of Senator John Kerry taken during his visit to the Kennedy Space Center. The OSC later gave a press release stating that Kerry's visit did not violate the act.[7]
