An ICE employee agreed to resigned Tuesday and accepted a five-year bar from working in the federal government after admitting to politicking on behalf of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election.
The employee, who officials didn’t name, posted more than 100 messages to social media while at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and urged people to vote for Mrs. Clinton. And the employee also promoted a Clinton campaign rally and urged coworkers to back the Democratic nominee.
She even continued the behavior after being approached by ethics watchdogs, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said in announcing the resignation.
The woman’s ouster — and agreement not to take a federal job for five more years — is a serious punishment when it comes to violations of the Hatch Act, the federal law that restricts employees’ ability to campaign while on taxpayers’ dime.
“This employee thumbed her nose at the law and engaged in vocal partisan politics both with her colleagues and on social media,” special counsel Henry J. Kerner said. “Considering her knowledge of the Hatch Act and continuing disregard for the law, this employee’s resignation and debarment from federal service are proportionate disciplinary actions.”
Most federal employees are allowed to post political messages to their own personal accounts, but they are not allowed to make the posts during company time. And they are not supposed to engage in activity that would be seen as using their government position to advocate for or against a candidate.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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