The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has filed a complaint against Marn'i Washington, a former FEMA employee, alleging she violated the Hatch Act by directing her team to avoid homes with pro-Trump campaign signs during Hurricane Milton relief efforts. Washington claimed the decision stemmed from political hostility experienced by her teams, but the OSC contends it represents partisan bias in the execution of federal duties.
MORGANTON, NORTH CAROLINA - NOVEMBER 05: Campaign signs are seen outside of Smyrna Baptist Church on November 5, 2024 in Morganton, North Carolina. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images) The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) filed a complaint Tuesday claiming Marn'i Washington, a former employee of the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ), broke a law limiting federal workers’ political activities.
OSC accused Washington of violating the Hatch Act, which has a stated purpose of ensuring federal programs are administered in a nonpartisan manner, by telling her survivor assistance team in October to avoid homes with signs supportive of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. Washington and her team at the time were working in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton. 'One of Congress's goals in passing the Hatch Act was to ensure that government programs are administered in a nonpartisan manner,' Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger said in a news release. “OSC has determined this employee violated the Hatch Act by instructing subordinates to avoid homes with certain campaign signs. A federal employee clearly violates the Hatch Act by engaging in explicit partisan political bias or activity when on the job.' Former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said in November an employee advised their team not to go to homes with yard signs supportive of Trump. In OSC’s complaint, Dellinger claimed Washington instructed members of “FEMA Crew 33” to avoid homes with “Trump 2024” campaign signage. “OSC brings this Complaint because Washington showed bias against supporters of a candidate for partisan political office while Washington was overseeing federal government personnel performing disaster relief work,” the complaint reads. “Specifically, Washington instructed subordinate government employees to ‘avoid homes advertising Trump’ when canvassing neighborhoods to assist survivors of Hurricane Milton.” Criswell’s announcement that two teams she was on experienced “political hostility” by people who had Trump campaign signs was released two days after Washington’s statements. “If you look at the record, there is what we call a community trend,” Washington said. “And unfortunately, it just so happened that the political hostility that was encountered by my team – and I was on two different teams during this deployment – they just so happened to have the Trump campaign signage.
HATCH ACT FEMA DONALD TRUMP POLITICAL ACTIVITIES DISASTER RELIEF
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