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FCC Commissioner Broke the Law by Advocating for Trump, Officials Find

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday May 06 2018, @03:05AM   Printer-friendly
from the you-scratch-my-back dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow3941

Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly broke a federal law preventing officials from advocating for political candidates when he told a crowd that one way to avoid policy changes was to "make sure that President Trump gets reelected," according to a newly released letter from government officials. O'Rielly was warned by the officials about making similar comments in the future.

The Hatch Act bars many federal employees from using their offices to influence an election. During the conservative CPAC conference in February, which was also attended by FCC chairman Ajit Pai, O'Rielly was asked about how to avoid rapid swings in policy ushered in by a new administration. "I think what we can do is make sure as conservatives that we elect good people to both the House, the Senate, and make sure that President Trump gets reelected," he responded, adding that there would also be a fight in the US Senate over net neutrality rules.

[...] The office said it has sent a warning letter to O'Rielly this time, but will consider other infractions "a willful and knowing violation of the law" that could lead to legal action.

O'Rielly's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the letter.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/1/17308418/fcc-commissioner-orielly-trump-law

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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday May 06 2018, @05:06PM (2 children)

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Sunday May 06 2018, @05:06PM (#676400) Journal

    And this is why I think it should be possible to up-mod an unmoderated comment. I feel the parent should be upmodded, but I don't consider it either interesting or insightful. More "well, of course". It probably should have a score of two or three. Not more, because telling the truth *can* be advocacy. And putting forth an opinion isn't necessarily advocacy. Both, however, are usually true.

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    Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @08:33PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @08:33PM (#676439)

    > And this is why I think it should be possible to up-mod an unmoderated comment. I feel the parent should be upmodded, but I don't consider it either interesting or insightful. More "well, of course". It probably should have a score of two or three.

    Isn't that what the "underrated" mod does?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @11:57PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 06 2018, @11:57PM (#676487)

      It's not possible to mod a comment underrated (or overrated) if it hasn't already been modded at least once.