White House Crosses a Line in the Health Care Takeover

Whoa. Promoted from the Top Headlines sidebar because I just saw it.

We are far from daylight, friends. CBS reported yesterday that the White House Office of Health Reform has been sending emails to government employees encouraging them to help pass ObamaCare.

DeParle’s unsolicited emails have been regularly coming to some federal employees’ official government email inboxes for weeks without permission or request, causing some federal employees to feel threatened by the overt political language.

The Department of State employees, who receive hundreds of official government emails every day, have complained about the annoying and partisan emails but are nervous to go public for fear of retribution. The emails are addressed to the federal employees by name and use the official .gov address.

The unsolicited emails also request that the federal employees take action in order to ensure that Obama’s health reform package is passed and the federal budget isn’t at risk for bankruptcy. One federal employee was so concerned about DeParle’s language in one email that he questioned whether his department’s budget would be cut or eliminated without passage of Obama’s bill. DeParle uses scare tactics that some assume are meant as threats:

This is a big no-no. Tell me, when your boss "suggests" that you do something, is it really a suggestion? There are strict ethics rules about this type of thing. DeParle's going to get away with it because she works for the president and she is technically not the boss of anyone she's sending these emails to. But, really? This scummy Democrat needs to be called out for her morally-challenged decision to intimidate federal employees on her boss' behalf.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 01:45 PM

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