O’Rielly

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly violated the Hatch Act while speaking at the American Conservative Union’s Conservative Political Action Conference in February, when he appealed to the audience to reelect President Donald Trump to a second term of office, ruled the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

“Commissioner O’Rielly advocated for the reelection of President Trump in his official capacity as FCC Commissioner,” wrote Erica S. Hamrick, deputy chief of the Hatch Act Unit, in a warning letter. “Therefore, he violated the Hatch Act’s prohibition against using his official authority or influence to affect an election. Although OSC has decided to issue a warning letter in this instance, OSC has advised Commissioner O’Rielly that if in the future he engages in prohibited political activity while employed in a position covered by the Hatch Act, we will consider such activity to be a willful and knowing violation of the law, which could result in further action pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 1215.”

The Hatch Act was passed to stop partisan political activities of federal executive branch employees. Only the Vice-President and President are exempt. Partisan political activity or interfering or involving oneself in political activity while serving in an official capacity or authority is not appropriate. O’Rielly was found culpable because he appeared at the CPAC event as a FCC Commissioner, not a private citizen.

At one point during a panel discussion entitled, “To Infinity and Beyond: How the FCC is Paving the Way for Innovation,” O’Rielly was asked about the stark policy differences at the FCC between the Obama Administration and the Trump Administration. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai had established a busy agenda at the time, primarily revoking Obama era policies and rules. The panel’s moderator wanted to know “what can we do to avoid this regulatory ping-pong every time there is a new election.”

It was O’Rielly’s response that violated federal law:

“I think what we can do is make sure as conservatives that we elect good people to both the House, the Senate, and make sure that President Trump gets reelected. But there’s another thing you can do. We’re going to have a fight over the Obama internet rules in the next couple months in the U.S. Senate. And that’s going to matter and that vote matters, and so making sure people take the right course on that really does affect what policies we’re able to keep in place moving forward. So we can certainly use everyone’s help along those lines.”

O’Rielly defended his actions before the OSC, claiming he was not advocating for President Trump’s reelection but instead simply answering the question asked, which he thought to be on the topic of net neutrality and how to prevent a new administration from restoring Obama-era policies.

“But Commissioner O’Rielly did in fact have an answer to the moderator’s question that was not partisan – legislative action by the Senate – which he expressed only after suggesting the solution was to ‘make sure President Trump gets reelected,'” Hamrick wrote.

“I appreciate that OSC recognized that the statement in question was part of an off-the-cuff, unrehearsed response to an impromptu question, and that they found this resolution to be the appropriate consequence,” O’Rielly said in response to Hamrick’s ruling. “While I am disappointed and disagree that my offhand remark was determined to be a violation, I take their warning letter seriously.”