Karl Rove, political adviser to President Bush, is coming under increasing scrutiny for actions that include his role in the firing of David Iglesias,
The Office of Special Counsel, a federal investigative unit, has begun a far-ranging probe into the firing of Iglesias, White House e-mails and efforts to keep Bush appointees on message, according to the Los Angeles Times.
None of that is, necessarily, improper. It’s how it was done that matters. Iglesias has alleged that he was fired for refusing pressure from two members of Congress to speed indictments in a public corruption probe to sway voters in the November 2006 election.
Iglesias told MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews on Tuesday that he filed a complaint with the OSC on April 3 against Rove and others in the administration alleging a violation of the Hatch Act, which prevents employees from doing political work and protects them from being pushed to do political work while on the job.
In addition, the office is looking into the creation of a special e-mail system installed at the White House and other offices by the Republican National Committee as a way to avoid public records requests. It’s also probing a Power Point presentation a Rove aide made to the General Services Administration this year. The presentation detailed battleground House and Senate races in next year’s election and, allegedly, the head of the non-partisan GSA urged workers to “support our candidates,” the Times reported.
The central question is whether Rove and his staff exerted improper political influence over government decision-making. And, the Times reported, the investigation is noteworthy because the OSC has never conducted such a far-ranging probe.
“We will take the evidence where it leads us,” Scott J. Bloch, head of the OSC and a Bush appointee, told the Times. “We will not leave any stone unturned.”