Secretary of State Mike Pompeo caused a stir among Democrats over his performance during the second night of the Republican National Convention, but the participation of a sitting cabinet member in such a political event is nothing new.
While Pompeo is the first sitting secretary of state to speak at a party convention, senior political correspondent Jim Geraghty pointed out on Wednesday that no less than six members of President Obama’s cabinet were speaking at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
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Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan all took the stage in Charlotte, North Carolina on the same day, while Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki and Karen Mills of the U.S. Small Business Administration spoke the next day.
“If you want to say that cabinet secretaries should not speak at conventions, then go ahead. You could try to change the law, but I think it would probably be affected by First Amendment. You can not tell anyone that they do not. can talk all about politics because they have a gov job, ”Geraghty tweeted. “But Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo did not invent this; yesterday, Pompeo just did it with a more dramatic backdrop than past cabinet secretaries.”
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During the Obama years, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) ruled that Sebelius violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits executive staff from engaging in certain political activities, saying it was “imperative” to to re-elect President Obama at a separate event. The OSC issued a similar statement against then-HUD secretary Julián Castro, praising Hillary Clinton during a 2016 interview.
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Under President Trump, the OSC ruled last year that White House adviser Kellyanne Conway was a “repeat offender” of the Hatch Act and advised her to step down.
Conway announced this week that she was leaving the Trump administration at the end of the month, although the move was not related to her violations in the Hatch Act.
House Democrats are already launching an investigation into Pompeo over whether he violated the Hatch Act by making his recorded address out of Jerusalem, while outlining President Trump’s foreign policy performance. HUD Secretary Ben Carson was also scheduled to speak at the congress on Thursday.
