NASA Administrator Reprimanded Over DeLay Endorsement

I almost forgot all about this. But here it is, back in the news today. Last March, Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator was caught by a Galveston newspaper reporter endorsing Tom DeLay at a rotary event. Concerned Lampson volunteers got right on it and emailed Griffin. One of them received an email back from him and I blogged about it. That email from Griffin ended up being quite a big deal with the entire text of it posted on Nasa Watch (read entire email exchange here - worth the read!). From my blog post:

Michael Griffin got himself into a bit of a tight spot back in March when he introduced Tom DeLay at a Rotary Club function. A reporter at the Galveston Daily News reported this:

"The congressman did pick up surprisingly out of the norm endorsement over the weekend when NASA director Michael Griffin asked those in the space community to send DeLay back to Washington.

In his keynote speech to the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Friday night, Griffin said DeLay was “the best friend NASA has” in Congress. He also said every effort should be made to re-elect him to office."

When Griffin was confronted with this in an email from a, um, concerned member of the community, his response was (and the Mike Griffin Quote-A-Thon continues):

"First, the quote you attributed to me is in fact incorrect. Second, even if I did, it would be okay. The Hatch Act applies to the career civil service cadre. I am a political appointee, not a career civil servant. If I chose to "endorse" a candidate from my party -- and I have not -- there would be no violation of the Hatch Act."

See, he was trying to tell this, um, "concerned member of the community" that she (or he) simply did not understand the intricate ins and outs of the Hatch Act which prohibits government employees from participating in political activities while on the job. Oh, and P.S. Griffin was flown to the Rotary event by NASA and was in his NASA uniform.

He practically calls this poor, dumb, little woman (or man) a liar. Come to find out, the speech was recorded and this is what Griffin said:

"Good evening. Thank you for having me here. Mr. Delay and I were chatting over dinner and I said, you know the way it ought to work is that I should be introducing you and you should do the keynote speech. And I really feel like that would be more appropriate. The space program has had no better friend in its entire existence than Tom Delay. He's still with us and we need to keep him there. There just are no better people."

I had no idea there was some sort of continuing investigation into this. But, as reported in today's Chronicle (emphasis mine):

NASA administrator Michael Griffin got a sharp reprimand from a federal watchdog today for comments that could have been interpreted as a political endorsement of embattled lawmaker Tom DeLay in Houston last March.

"We were concerned about the appearance that this was an endorsement of Tom DeLay by Mr. Griffin acting in his official capacity in Houston, very close to (DeLay's) district," Special Counsel Scott Bloch told the Chronicle.

"We are not releasing the letter sent to Mr. Griffin, but it was sternly worded," Bloch said.

Under the federal Hatch Act, government officials are barred from using their offices to endorse elected officials.

But Griffin "really walked up against that line," in remarks he made last March, Bloch said.
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Bloch decided he could not prove that Griffin's remarks violated the Hatch Act, which bans federal employees from political activity while on duty. The black-tie awards dinner at which Griffin made his remarks was held after regular working hours but Griffin was representing the space agency and giving an award to a NASA employee, astronaut Eileen Collins.

Bloch, in a letter faxed to the administrator, warned Griffin to exercise better judgment.

A press statement issued by the Office of Special Counsel headed by Bloch said, "Everybody needs to abide by these prohibitions, but we expect high level officials to provide a better example."

NASA spokesman David Mould said Griffin never intended to make any endorsement.

"The administrator has acknowledged that the words he used probably did not convey the intention he had and he regrets the controversy the remarks have caused," he said.

Griffin's travel to Houston from Washington, D.C., for the dinner was paid by NASA rather than the Rotary Club, an official told the Chronicle last year.

Bloch said because Griffin is a political appointee approved by the U.S. Senate, any violation of the Hatch Act would be reported to the White House and could lead to suspension or even firing of such an official.

Bloch decided against charging that violation because Griffin's motivation couldn't be proved.

"It came across to some people as if Griffin were trying to keep DeLay in office. Griffin denied that, and we couldn't prove that was his motive, but we were concerned about the appearance," Bloch said. "It was a dangerous thing to do, because reasonable people could take it as an endorsement."

I'm not sure I've ever been called reasonable, but I'll take that as a compliment. It looks like Griffin got off easy on this. I hope my motivations can't be proved if I'm ever accused of violating a federal law. I'm definitely going to "be like Mike" and use that as my defense.

UPDATES: There is an AP story with this: Federal employees found to have violated the law can be removed from their position."We thought it was a very close call," Special Counsel Scott Bloch told The Associated Press.

Bay Area Houston adds some details about the HATCH act and NASA's past activity with DeLay.