VA CHIEF NICHOLSON CAMPAIGNED ON JOB AND TAXPAYERS PAID

CONGRESSIONAL REPORT: FORMER VA CHIEF NICHOLSON CAMPAIGNED ON JOB AND TAXPAYERS PAID (10-16-08) Report shows White House billed taxpayers for trips to get Republicans elected during 2006 election cycle.

White House Billed Taxpayers for Trips to Get Republicans Elected
By Jason Leopold
The Public Record
A draft report released Wednesday by Congressman Henry Waxman, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, found that in the months prior to the 2006 midterm elections, the White House Office of Political Affairs, formerly headed by Karl Rove, “enlisted agency heads across government in a coordinated effort to elect Republican candidates to Congress,” directing them “to make hundreds of trips – most at taxpayer expense – for the purpose of increasing the electability of Republicans.”"The White House used its Office of Political Affairs office to orchestrate an aggressive strategy to use taxpayer-funded trips to help elect Republican candidates for public office," the report says.

"From January 1, 2006, until the mid-term elections on November 7, 2006, cabinet secretaries and other senior officials traveled to over 300 events recommended by the political affairs office.

All of these events were held with Republican candidates, and in most cases, the travel costs were paid for with federal funds."The report recommends that the Office of Political Affairs be eliminated and that the federal law known as a the Hatch Act, which prohibits the use of government resources for political purposes, be amended to further restrict political activity by federal officials.
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