As if by clockwork, the Bush administration put its mischief to use on Friday afternoon — part of a disturbing end-of-the-workweek pattern for these guys — this time using the Treasury Department to issue slanted press materials to criticize John Kerry’s economic proposals.
In light of recent events, one might assume this gang would be going out of its way to avoid messing with the Treasury Department. Just last month we learned that Republicans misused Treasury staffers to work up a critical analysis of Kerry’s tax plan. Last week, the Treasury Department’s inspector general announced he was launching an investigation into the controversy.
And yet, Friday afternoon Treasury issued a series of controversial press releases, raising the specter of additional partisan manipulation.
The Treasury Department issued a batch of tax-related press releases Friday that each carried a message saying America has a choice between growing the economy and raising taxes that could hurt the recovery.
Democrats immediately denounced the action as an improper use of government resources to subsidize political propaganda.
While the sentiment is a long held position of the Bush administration, it was the first time the department included this message in dark type at the bottom of some its news releases, said Treasury Department spokesman Rob Nichols.
“America has a choice: It can continue to grow the economy and create new jobs as the president’s policies are doing; or it can raise taxes on American families and small businesses, hurting economic recovery and future job creation,” the message on the releases said.
This, of course, is completely ridiculous. The Treasury Department is not supposed to be just another political organ to churn out GOP talking points. The Bush administration knows this but doesn’t care.
The Wall Street Journal wrote up the last controversy with some quotes from Reagan-era Treasury officials. They’re referring to the other matter that’s under investigation, but the quotes are equally applicable here.
John “Buck” Chapoton, who headed Treasury’s tax office under Ronald Reagan, said career tax officials “are supposed to be objective. It’s important that they are thought of as not being influenced or used for political purposes.”
Eugene Steuerle, another Treasury tax official during the Reagan administration, said that using the analysis of the Kerry plan for political purposes “stepped over the line” that’s supposed to protect career officials from political influence. “This type of release tends to reduce the reputation of the department as a fair and neutral arbiter of what constitutes good tax policy,” Mr. Steuerle said. Messrs. Chapoton and Steuerle were Treasury political appointees during the Reagan years.
Objectivity. Neutrality. Fair and neutral. These are the qualities the public needs in a reliable Treasury Department. Instead, we get the Bush administration turning government reports into partisan attacks. Not only does this White House have no shame; they have no respect for government institutions.
Administration officials explained that the slanted rhetoric on the Treasury releases was added to coincide with April 15, as part of a “tax day reminder.” No one believes them.
“First the Bush Treasury Department did campaign research on the Kerry tax plan and now they are blatantly putting out Bush campaign statements that masquerade as a news release,” said Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. “This release has nothing to do with April 15 and everything to do with Nov. 2.”
Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Debra DeShong said there should be an investigation to determine whether the language represents a violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts the political activities of government employees.
“For them to say it’s not political, you know, it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, it’s not a goose,” DeShong said.