A watchdog group has accused Education Secretary Miguel Cardona of violating federal law by sending a mass email attacking Republicans for opposing student debt cancellation.
Protect the Public’s Trust called the email “glaringly political” and filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel and the Education Department inspector general, accusing the education secretary of violating the Hatch Act, which limits federal employees from using their office to engage in partisan political activities intended to influence the outcome of an election. Through his email, Cardona characterized Republican elected officials as “siding with special interests and trying to block Americans from accessing all the benefits of the most affordable student loan repayment plan in history” while praising the Biden-Harris administration for “fighting” on behalf of Americans, according to a PPT press release.
“Let me be clear: President Biden and I are determined to lower costs for student loan borrowers, to make repaying student affordable and realistic, and to build on our separate efforts that have already provided relief to 4.75 million Americans — no matter how many times Republican elected officials try to stop us,” a portion of the email said. “While we disagree with the Republican elected officials’ efforts here to side with special interests and block borrowers from getting breathing room on their student loans, President Biden and our Administration will not stop fighting to make sure Americans have affordable access to the lifechanging opportunities a higher education can provide.”
Since Cardona “used his official position and government resources to send an email to an official government email list” and because that email was explicitly partisan, it constituted the kind of partisan political activity that the Hatch Act prohibits, according to PPT’s complaint. PPT also pointed out that student loan forgiveness has become a significant issue in the 2024 presidential election and that the language used in Cardona’s email is similar to that used by President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign prior to him dropping out of the race.
PPT requested that OSC and the ED inspector general “immediately investigate” the email to determine if Cardona violated the Hatch Act. Penalties for violating the Hatch Act can include removal from federal employment, demotion, prohibition from federal employment for up to five years, suspension, reprimand or up to $1,000 in civil penalties.
“You almost have to admire the chutzpa of sending out full-on campaign literature to millions of citizens from your official Education Department email address,” PPT Director Michael Chamberlain said. “Unfortunately, it’s indicative of the attitude of too many in this administration toward the restrictions and ethics standards by which the executive branch is supposed to operate — the ones President Biden and Vice President Harris referred to when they promised the most ethical administration in history.”
Multiple members of the Biden-Harris administration have violated the Hatch Act. The OSC determined, for instance, that Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge broke the law by wading into partisan politics, according to multiple outlets.
Granholm, for her part, said it was “good news” that voters gave Democrats majority control of the House and Senate in 2020, while Fudge praised Democrats running for office in Ohio. Watchdog groups have accused both White House press secretaries under Biden of violating the Hatch Act, CNN reported.
ED did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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