Washington — Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated a federal law that restricts political activity by government officials, a federal ethics office said in a report Wednesday.
Off-the-cuff remarks by Sebelius during a speech earlier this year to a gay rights group in North Carolina violated the Hatch Act, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said in a report to the White House. The law prohibits federal employees from using their official authority to influence an election, although it allows partisan remarks made in a personal capacity.
In the Feb. 25 speech to the Human Rights Campaign, Sebelius called for President Barack Obama’s re-election and endorsed a Democratic candidate Walter Dalton for governor. Later, she rescinded the gubernatorial endorsement.
The ethics office found that Sebelius had made the speech in her official capacity as the nation’s top health official, but departed from her prepared text and veered into politicking.
“While a violation of the Hatch Act occurred, Secretary Sebelius’ statements would have been permissible if they had been made in her personal capacity,” the report said.
In a formal response, Sebelius said that any violation was “technical and minor” and was corrected after her official trip was reclassified as political, and the government was repaid for her travel.
Comments
LarryNative 8 months, 1 week ago
Witch hunt anyone?
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
How about all the laws Brownback and his administration have violated?
monkfellow 8 months, 1 week ago
I'm sorry, .I missed Sam, Brownback's federal appointment. That said, if you have proof of wrongdoing by the Governor, it is your OBLIGATION as a citizen to contact the local U.S. Attorney and present your evidence.
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
Missed the point completely. I never said he was federally appointed, did I? Brownback's administration is corrupt and everyone (except maybe the uneducated fools) can see it plan as day.
parrothead8 8 months, 1 week ago
And it's always the liberal media reporting it, huh?
snap_pop_no_crackle 8 months, 1 week ago
What's breaking a few federal laws to the current regime? Hasn't stopped 'em yet.
Boston_Corbett 8 months, 1 week ago
Get that cauldron of oil up to boiling, Snap. High crimes here.
Defixione 8 months, 1 week ago
Romney/Ryan 2012. See, it could be worse.
Kathy Getto 8 months, 1 week ago
Oh, for Pete's sake, page, shut your gob, children should be seen but not heard.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 8 months, 1 week ago
This law makes some sense when applied to career employees. It makes absolutely none when applied to top political appointees whose primary job is to express and implement the political will of the president who appointed them. And that goes for both R's and D's.
monkfellow 8 months, 1 week ago
It is the law..she is not under civil service. No one is above the law, at least that's what I've heard.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 8 months, 1 week ago
I wasn't commenting on whether or not she violated the law. I was merely noting that this law makes little sense for political appointees, especially at the cabinet level.
OonlyBonly 8 months, 1 week ago
This would surely be a different comment were she Republican. Typical LiberalThink.
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
Is abortion the only topic that matters to you?
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
There are plenty more relative issues that should matter before abortion, yet that is what you continue to focus on. Abortion has been legal for decades; it's time to move on. You don't like it, don't have one, but save your preaching for someone who cares. Stop trying to force your beliefs on the general populace.
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
Wow, you resorted to the tired tactic of comparing something you don't agree with to Hitler. If you cannot respond rationally, I am not going to bother. As my mom always says, "You can't fix stupid."
riverdrifter 8 months, 1 week ago
She's a witch!
Katara 8 months, 1 week ago
She turned SageonPage into a newt! And it is obvious he hasn't gotten better.
Katara 8 months, 1 week ago
Try to keep up. The amphibian is a step up from Gingrich and a lot less slimier.
nomorebobsplease 8 months, 1 week ago
Amen Autie!
bad_dog 8 months, 1 week ago
Paranoid much?
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
Sounds very similar to car insurance. You have to pay, or you're fined....don't see a problem there. I'm tired of paying for uninsured people. It's time they are responsible for themselves.
KS 8 months, 1 week ago
The new healthcare law was not passed to help people, but to unionized the healthcare industry of this country. Can't wait to have all of them go on strike when you need a life saving operation.
Katara 8 months, 1 week ago
That is only because you did not shoot the deputy. It would have been different then.
Agnostick 8 months, 1 week ago
No shortage of hate-mongering from the usual, predictable trolls.
If Sebelius violated a law, there should be a penalty. She repaid the government for her travel expenses, and turned an "official" trip into a "personal" trip. That's appropriate.
What does the law itself say about further penalties... including fines and/or imprisonment?
grammaddy 8 months, 1 week ago
Pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion.Who died and made you Pope?Maybe you should resign for your partisan remarks in violation of common sense.
KS 8 months, 1 week ago
grammaddy, if common sense was involved, there would never be an abortion. I can't understand how you think common sense could ever support an abortion? Never in a million years. Common sense has died and political correctness has taken its place.
caughtinthemiddle 8 months, 1 week ago
That's not even close to true, and you know it. Common sense will not stop rape, will not stop profound birth defects, will not stop------
Oh, hell, what's the use. You will "never in a million years" see common sense. You will continue mouthing your platitudes and thinking not of the woman. It's useless to talk with you. So I won't.
KS 8 months, 1 week ago
rockchalk1977, we agree. Trouble is none of that will happen. Just what is the punishment for being stupid in this country? It there was some, we would not have enough jails for 70% of the population of this town.
Agnostick 8 months, 1 week ago
"Hey," 'I' "wasn't" 'around' "much" 'this' "past" 'weekend.' "What" 'happened' "to" 'our' "beloved" 'troll?' "He's" 'probably' "back" 'already,' "though."
KS 8 months, 1 week ago
Are you talking about "bozo" or "merrill"?
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
FHNC with his/her "overuse" of "quotations."
75x55 8 months, 1 week ago
"Well, Kathy - just kick in a quarter in the cuss jar, and that'll be good enough."
Agnostick 8 months, 1 week ago
LOL! Yeah... probably so.
I mean, hey, if it works for Wall Street...
75x55 8 months, 1 week ago
stalk much?
MarcoPogo 8 months, 1 week ago
He's posting from INSIDE THE HOUSE!!!
Agnostick 8 months, 1 week ago
ROFLMAO!!!!
Kathy Getto 8 months, 1 week ago
Ag: It has been my experience that those who holler stalking are the true stalkers, kinda like farts, ya know? We have another on here who is up to her old tricks again. Protections are in place and law enforcement has been notified. What a sad life they must have.
merrill 8 months, 1 week ago
Kathleen Sebelius,
You are being used as tool for the extreme right wing in their never ending effort to kill the the USA economy and character assassinate the president of the United States. These frauds are anti American.
Come back home to Kansas. Yes run for governor and I'll vote for you. There are some people posing as republicans that need to be replaced because they are being dishonest with the people of Kansas. We need you Kathleen Sebelius.
These deceitful people posing as republicans believe their personal agendas represent a democracy. And they are the most reckless spenders on planet earth. Not a fiscal conservative bone in their bodies.
Kathleen Sebelius we would welcome a breath of fresh air that you represent. Have no fear Kansans from most all sides the aisle will welcome you back to Kansas and the state house.
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
What did she do that was bad for Kansas? Actual facts, not propaganda and abortion nonsense.
Agnostick 8 months, 1 week ago
"SageonPage" (wink-wink nudge-nudge) writes:
"She is a liberal who cares not for personal freedom. She has ties to everything that is wrong with politics from representing the Trial Lawyers Association to opposing jobs in Kansas by the power plants to opposing Concealed Carry rights to opposing the death penalty for rapists to telling the Catholic Church to stuff it- Sebelius has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood and they have conducted fundraising activity on her behalf.[72] Sebelius is a member of the Catholic Church; in early March 2009, Archbishop Raymond F. Burke, prefect for the Apostolic Signatura, the Holy See's highest court, declared that Sebelius should not approach the altar for Communion in the United States, and he noted that, "after pastoral admonition, she obstinately persists in serious sin... I could go on, but she is bad news in every respect to God fearing Americans."
Hey, if you're gonna rip off Wikipedia, don't you think you at least owe 'em some recognition?
caughtinthemiddle 8 months, 1 week ago
Journal World, is not a part of the useage rules a prohibition against plagiarizing? If so, this is a clear-cut violation. Any reason this person should continue in its latest of many past iterations?
Agnostick 8 months, 1 week ago
The rules against plagiarizing--along with several other parts of the TOS, it seems--have been conveniently swept under the rug so we can have lots and lots of eyeballs (no matter how crazy they are) looking at lots and lots of banner ads and gathering up lots and lots of clicks so we can make lots and lots of
$$$$$$
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 8 months, 1 week ago
That was quite an expression of your ideological positions and superstitious prejudices, but failed to even come close to answering the question.
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
I meant facts, not nonsense religious bs. I could care less what your religion thinks of her actions. I care about her policies. You did not mention one actual policy that she put in place that was bad for Kansas. Not one. You proved my point. Thanks for that.
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
Representing trial lawyers...not a bad thing for KS necessarily. Opposing power plants that were probably coal (if I remember right) is not a bad thing for KS. We need more sustainable energy sources that do not pollute the planet. Opposing the death penalty is not bad, it is a ideological stance of which many people agree with. Being supported by Planned Parenthood makes me like her more. Planned Parenthood is not the devil. They provide many health services to women that cannot afford it otherwise. This is good. They are not just about abortion--far from it. You would know that if you actually read up on what their services are and not just focus on abortion, as you continuously do. As I said before, all religious fear propaganda and nothing about real issues that effect the wealthfare of this state.
Agnostick 8 months, 1 week ago
Kinda like what the rest of us do every time a troll re-registers for the 18th time!
snap_pop_no_crackle 8 months, 1 week ago
The shark has been well and truely jumped.
Enlightenment 8 months, 1 week ago
Try to have a political conversation without including religion and gods. Politics and religion need to be separated.
asixbury 8 months, 1 week ago
I think that's called Schizophrenia....but I could be mistaken.
Sorry for feeding the troll. Sometimes I can't help myself.
dinglesmith 8 months, 1 week ago
First, note that the violated scripture is omitted. Second, Christians my prefer to only help others when and where they like, but the command to help the needy that appears in various forms over 200 times in the New Testament has no such qualification. "What you do unto the least of these you do unto me" is really not difficult to interpret.
Paul R. Getto 8 months, 1 week ago
Playing Bible Bingo is always dangerous. When I taught school the part about being allowed to kill mouthy kids occasionally came to mind.
headdoctor 8 months, 1 week ago
Aww, Looks like Sage is gone for the day. His internet monitor must have came home. Poor little man had to put his toys away until tomorrow.
Agnostick 8 months, 1 week ago
autie! Now... c'MON! You know that hatred and bigotry know no logic... don'tcha???
KansasConscience 8 months, 1 week ago
@asixbury.
Actually, SageonPage (who is really not a Sage) has probably always "hated" Kathleen Sebelius and would jump at any chance to denigrate her, much as he/she does President Obama. This time, he/she is thumping the Bible, instead of wrapping himself/herself in the flag. It's an interesting new tack and should be fun to watch.
Please though asixbury, don't feed him/her/it.
@SP The article says, " 'While a violation of the Hatch Act occurred, Secretary Sebelius’ statements would have been permissible if they had been made in her personal capacity,' the report said."
How do you go from that to she was charged with violating the Hatch Act? That's quite a leap, even for you. Please don't reply with your "connect the dots" comments as they are old and stale. (You really do need to develop a new repertoire.) Charges mean criminal charges and indictments, not that "a violation occurred." It's the same difference as between, "someone was stalked," and "(troll) was charged with stalking someone."
The next step would be to charge her; that has not yet been done.
Paul R. Getto 8 months, 1 week ago
In a formal response, Sebelius said that any violation was “technical and minor” and was corrected after her official trip was reclassified as political, and the government was repaid for her travel........
She fixed it, just like all do on either side when they get caught......Next?
jafs 8 months, 1 week ago
She must have meant "personal" don't you think?
Otherwise, she wouldn't pay for the trip, and it wouldn't fix it.
headdoctor 8 months, 1 week ago
Sage and his ilk are always complaining about others not being productive and or living off of someone else. I have to wonder when he is going to get a real job. The few dimes made off of something not much more than a hobby is hardly a job. Must be nice to be a kept boy with someone else having a real job providing a life style including health coverage to pick up where the Feds leave off.
patkindle 8 months, 1 week ago
hey, give her a break she fixed it. after all even if he is the worse president including jimmy carter, he is cute and talks purty, that is what we want to lead out country
pace 8 months, 1 week ago
I sure would like her to be our next governor. I admire her. sam and koch bros not so much.
Ricky_Vaughn 8 months, 1 week ago
For those familiar with b-ball terminology, I'd call this a "ticky-tack foul".
hear_me 8 months, 1 week ago
The Hatch act is collection of ethics rules for federal employees. The original intent was to curtail activities of our congressional representatives for activities like using government funds for personal use, and so on.
There is a range of consequences - reprimand, lost pay, termination, or jail, and so on, depending on the severity. Since it is a personnel incident, the consequence could remain private.
I am quite familiar with federal government practices. I wonder why the state does not have something similar. Chris Kobach's activities are an example of conflict of interest and misuse of government funds. Far more egregious than Sibelius' slip up.
cait48 8 months, 1 week ago
Perhaps someone needs to file a lawsuit against KK for conflict of interest? Would be a civil suit and need not involve any particular law.
oldbaldguy 8 months, 1 week ago
why is this news?
jackbinkelman 8 months, 1 week ago
Ooooo, Maybe she should step down as H.S. over that one!!!!!! Ha!
Mixolydian 8 months, 1 week ago
Faux outrage over faux outrage. Too funny.
kansasredlegs 8 months, 1 week ago
Sad that when government officials violate federal law, they get to reclassify what they did while "we" get a conviction, prison, followed by post-release supervision.
msezdsit 8 months, 1 week ago
Anyone with detectable brain activity might realize that what Sebelius did was about as criminal as jaywalking. How about the republicans manipulating the will of the American people to vote. Now there's a serious crime that they should go to jail for.
msezdsit 8 months, 1 week ago
Under penalty of law do not remove this tag.
Lets see, having private legislative meetings at the governors mansion and throwing the disabled out in the street and being one of the only states in US history not to put the president on the ballot all good. Chronic lying and making up stuff people never said and blaming the person for what they didn't say and hanging lies over the stage at their convention all good of course. Bring em on.
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