The Department of Housing and Urban Development updated its website on Tuesday with a pair of partisan messages that replaced the agency’s landing page, claiming the “radical left” are behind the impending government shutdown.
“The Radical Left are going to shut down the government and inflict massive pain on the American people unless they get their $1.5 trillion wish list of demands,” read a bright red banner and identically worded message on the agency’s homepage. “The Trump administration wants to keep the government open for the American people.”
The message immediately raised alarms for government ethics groups who are actively analyzing whether the message violates the Hatch Act, the 1939 federal law preventing federal employees from expressing political messages in their official capacity. HUD is the first federal agency to publicly express an opinion on this week’s looming government shutdown as lawmakers struggle through a final day of negotiations before federal funding expires at midnight.
In response to questions about concerns about violating the Hatch Act, a White House official told NOTUS “Why is the media more focused on a banner than reporting on the impact of a Democrat shutdown on the American people?”
Donald Sherman, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and former Obama-appointed senior general counsel for HUD oversight investigations, said in addition to being ethically ambiguous the website message puts employees at risk.
“This is not something that any other HUD administration would have done because it seems to not only violate norms but also violate the code of conduct for government employees,” Sherman told NOTUS. “It seems quite clear from the message that the only reasonable conclusion that one could draw is that if you are or perceived to be a left-leaning person, and government services that you pay for may be caused by this shutdown, that you are not welcome.”
President Donald Trump, who met with congressional leaders on Monday to attempt to negotiate a deal to keep the government open, has previously disregarded the Hatch Act. During his first administration more than a dozen senior officials were accused of violating the federal law and reportedly instructed his team to disregard it.
“Whether or not this technically violates the Hatch Act, it’s yet another example of the Trump administration using government resources to score political points instead of serving the American people,” Omar Noureldin, senior vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause said in a statement to NOTUS. “HUD’s leadership should be focused on ensuring families have safe, affordable housing, not peddling partisan attacks.”
HUD did not respond to a direct request for comment, but through a White House spokesperson repeated the White House’s question about the media caring about the banner over the possible government shutdown.
“The Far Left is barreling our country toward a shutdown, which will hurt all Americans. At HUD, we are working to keep critical services online and support our most vulnerable,” read the statement. “Why is the media more focused on a banner than reporting on the impact of a shutdown on the American people?”
Government affairs expert for Public Citizen Craig Holman said in a statement to NOTUS that the website message is “an obvious violation of the Hatch Act” that is “clearly partisan and political.”
“Nevertheless, the sheer crassness of this partisan advertisement by HUD using taxpayer dollars to campaign against Democrats and promote the Trump administration is going to make it exceedingly difficult for even a neutered ethics office to ignore,” Holman continued.