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dalton99a

(81,543 posts) Tue Aug 25, 2020, 01:58 PM Aug 2020

Pompeo shattering precedent, sparking fury with RNC speech

https://apnews.com/032814cfd19e047000bd213242095c83

Pompeo shattering precedent, sparking fury with RNC speech
By MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sent a cable to all U.S. diplomatic missions last month warning American diplomats that under federal law they should not take overt sides in the presidential campaign. On Tuesday, he plans to ignore his own warning by speaking to the Republican National Convention endorsing President Donald Trump for a second term.

Pompeo’s message to State Department employees reminding them of restrictions on political activity under the Hatch Act was not unusual. Similar, if not identical, cables have been sent by successive secretaries of state every presidential election year. None of his predecessors, however, has disregarded those instructions so obviously.

Despite State Department assurances that Pompeo will be speaking to the convention in his personal capacity and won’t violate the Hatch Act, Democrats and other critics have cried foul. They accuse the country’s top diplomat of inappropriate political behavior that has been anathema to his predecessors and of trashing his own admonition to State Department staffers.

“The department works to advance the national interest abroad on behalf of all Americans in a non-partisan fashion,” Pompeo said in the July 24 cable. Known as an ALDAC, short for the distribution list to “ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR” posts, the cable was sent over Pompeo’s signature as are all such messages from State Department headquarters.

“It is important to remember that in order to avoid any confusion or misperception in this regard, the department’s longstanding policy is that U.S. citizen employees and family members may not engage in partisan political activity while posted or on TDY abroad, even on personal time,” the cable said. TDY is an acronym for Temporary Duty.