“The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) released a report on Monday concluding that Castro, considered a possible running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonKasich: “Real hard” to win OH without unifying message HUD’s Castro violated law with interview about Clinton Republicans get hot in Cleveland MORE, violated the Hatch Act during a Yahoo News interview with Katie Couric on April 4 by sharing his views of the presidential candidates”.
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“Despite his efforts to clarify that he was speaking only for himself and not as a HUD official when answering political questions, Secretary Castro’s statements impermissibly mixed his personal political views with official government agency business”, the report said.
According to CNN, Castro, who is considered to be on the list for potential Clinton running mates, violated the Hatch Act, which forbids federal workers from campaigning while also performing their official duties.
The Obama administration recently said Cabinet-level officials like Castro can not speak at next week’s Democratic National Convention in support of Clinton, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
But with many supporters of Clinton’s primary opponent, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, remaining skeptical about Clinton’s credentials as a “progressive”, the selection of Castro could work against Clinton with the party’s newly vocal progressive wing.
The Hatch Act, passed in 1939, prohibits employees from using their official authority or influence to affect the outcome of an election, according to the report.
Republicans are likely to seize on the incident in the days before Clinton is expected to announce her vice presidential selection.
Responding to the report, Castro wrote in a letter to Lerner that he believed his disclaimer had been sufficient, but he acknowledged that the counsel had demonstrated otherwise.
The OSC report has been referred to President Obama for evaluation.
The President alone can decide whether to take any disciplinary action in such a case, but the White House released a statement saying the chief executive considers the matter resolved with Castro’s admission of error.
The agency did not disclose who made the initial complaint about Castro’s interview that prompted the investigation.
“In the end, the American people understand that she has a positive vision for the country that includes opportunity for everybody, and she can actually get it done”, Castro said at one point during the interview.
The source with knowledge of the report said Castro has said that he didn’t travel on HUD money, and thought he was acting on the guidance he had received to avoid problems with the Hatch Act.
Castro ackonwledged during testimony that “taking off my HUD hat” was an “inelegant phrase” to introduce personal comments immediately after discussing official government business.
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“I offered my opinion to the interviewer after making it clear that I was articulating my personal view and not an official position”, he said.
