Posted on 09/08/2009 8:51:17 AM PDT by penelopesire
"Some Boulder County residents said their afternoon at the Louisville Labor Day Parade turned sour Monday when a Regional Transportation District bus and a U.S. Postal Service mail truck crawled along the route bearing posters supporting President Barack Obama's health-care plan and labor unions.
“They were basically supporting ‘ObamaCare,'” Ted Hine said afterward. “That's not what public funds should be used for.”
Anything goes with liberals and their causes.
PING!!
Our taxdollars at work....
ABUSE OF POWER!!
Looks like they need some new posters, such as yours. :-)
I’m bewildered as to why prosecutors aren’t going after this stuff.
Just how afraid are they of White House retaliations??
The people who drove these should be fired.
What are the odds lib locing Boulder will enforce its rules?
This is against federal law and someone should be fired. This is the SEIU at work...OBAMA’S FASCIST MINIONS!
Remember back when the libs were freaking out when Fire and Police Depts put American flag stickers on their vehiclesafter 9/11?
Vermin.
Mrs. RQSR mentioned to me in disgust that “those USPS people were more than likely getting paid, and being paid overtime as it was a Holiday”.
I’d bet she’s right.
The vehicles in the picture appear to be PARKED. So how did they “crawl along”.
I agree..this kind of stuff needs to be nipped in the bud!
Link for those who might want to take action:
Remember back when the libs were freaking out when Fire and Police Depts put American flag stickers on their vehiclesafter 9/11?
good point
I think this is illegal, at least for the post office?
That is a very good observation by Mrs. RQSR!! We should find out!
Who knows..but it doesn’t really matter. It is against federal law whether they were parked or moving.
This is just another ‘In Your Face’ ABUSE OF POWER!
Direct e-mail link to the post office inspector general: - hotline@uspsoig.gov
ping
The problem here is that the picture does not match the claim made in the text of the article.
The postal vehicle simply isn't in a line of parade ~ it is parked.
Al DeSarro, a regional spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, said he would investigate the complaints.
“We don’t present any type of political message on our postal-owned vehicles in any way,” DeSarro said. “That must have been some type of misunderstanding.”
DeSarro said it’s not unusual for postal equipment to show up in local parades, and that is an allowed use of equipment when it’s authorized by the postal workers’ union. But, he said it’s never OK to have political messages attached to government property.
“It’s likely here this is just a mistake and someone just did not know,” DeSarro said.
He said the responsible person from the post office would be “counseled” about the apparent infraction.
“It’s something we definitely are pretty strict about,” he said. “This won’t happen again.”
What gets me is when the federal employees do something illegal, it is always a misunderstanding!
Not good enough! I bet this stuff is happening all over the country on orders from the SEIU!
5 CFR Sec. 734.406 Participation in political activities while on duty, in uniform, in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties, or using a Federal vehicle; prohibition.
(a) An employee covered under this subpart may not participate in political activities:
(1) While he or she is on duty;
(2) While he or she is wearing a uniform, badge, or insignia that identifies the employing agency or instrumentality or the position of the employee;
(3) While he or she is in any room or building occupied in the discharge of official duties by an individual employed or holding office in the Government of the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof; or
(4) While using a Government-owned or leased vehicle or while using a privately owned vehicle in the discharge of official duties.
(b) [Reserved]
Example 1: An employee who uses his or her privately owned vehicle on a recurrent basis for official business may place a bumper sticker on the vehicle, as long as he or she covers the bumper sticker while the vehicle is being used for official duties.
Example 2: An employee who uses his or her privately owned vehicle on official business, must cover any partisan political bumper sticker while the vehicle is being used for official duties, if the vehicle is clearly identified as being on official business.
Example 3: An employee or career SES employee who uses his or her privately owned vehicle only on an occasional basis to drive to another Federal agency for a meeting, or to take a training course, if not required to cover a partisan political bumper sticker on his or her vehicle.
Example 4: An employee may not place a partisan political bumper sticker on any Government owned or Government leased vehicle.
Example 5: An employee may place a bumper sticker on his or her privately owned vehicle and park the vehicle in a parking lot of an agency or instrumentality of the United States Government or in a non-Federal facility for which the employee receives a subsidy from his or her employing agency or instrumentality.
Example 6: An employee, or noncareer SES employee who is subject to subpart D of this part 734, may not wear partisan political buttons or display partisan political pictures, signs, stickers, or badges while he or she is on duty or at his or her place of work.
Example 7: An employee who contributes financially to a political action committee through a voluntary allotment made under Sec. 550.311(b) of this title may not complete the direct deposit forms while he or she is on duty, in a ``room or building'' defined in Sec. 734.101, or in a Federally owned or leased vehicle.
Example 8: An employee who contributes financially to a political action committee may not personally deliver his or her completed direct deposit form, or the completed direct deposit form of another employee, to the payroll employees who would process or administer such forms. However, the employee may mail his or her direct deposit form to his or her agency payroll office.
[59 FR 48769, Sept. 23, 1994, as amended at 61 FR 35102, July 5, 1996]
An employee who violates the Hatch Act shall be removed from their position, and funds appropriated for the position from which removed thereafter may not be used to pay the employee or individual. However, if the Merit Systems Protection Board finds by unanimous vote that the violation does not warrant removal, a penalty of not less than 30 days' suspension without pay shall be imposed by direction of the Board.
Not buying it!
It should be investigated.
The government body which investigates violations of the Hatch Act is the Office of the Special Counsel. The local old-boys-club at the town's post office should not be permitted to get away with a wrist-slap here.
The OSC Website has an electronic complaint filing system - someone who knows or can find out as much specific information as possible about the violation should submit a complaint.
Still, what you are not buying is a gross inconsistency. The story said the vehicle was in a parade and yet there it is parked.
This is not a Schrodinger's Cat situation ~ the vehicle isn't super-posed in two antithetical states ~ it is parked and is obviously not in a parade.
What you have to do sometimes is learn to believe your eyes and ignore the funny noises being made in your ears by webcrawlers eh.
As a 20 year employee I say there was full knowledge what was done was illegal and they did it anyway. Philosophy - easier to get forgiveness than to get permission. There should be more than counselling on this one, such as suspension to whoever let the vehicle be signed out, the person who drove the vehicle and the NALC Union brought up on charges of violating the Hatch Act assuming it was a city carrier behind the wheel.
So the person who posted this will be suspended at least 30 days according to this, if they are not fired? It would be interesting to find out if this happens. The rules are pretty clear. But I'm sure obamma wll grant an exemption!
The penalties applied to USPS employees for minor infractions are frightful ~ so you rarely see this happen.
Anything that makes the news is usually fatal to the employees involved. Remember, everybody in America thinks they own the post office and that you are their employee.
Just because the picture shows the vehichle possibly parked, doesn’t mean that there are not hundreds of witnesses who saw it in the parade before the picture was taken. The truth will rise to the surface.
I wonder how we the people will find out what happens to the employee(s) over this? Will it quietly be swept under the rug?
When gov’t resources are misused to promote more gov’t growth,
do you think anyone in the same gov’t will do anything
about it?
We have long past ceased to enforce the concept of
“consent of the governed”.
As far as what happens to the employees, if there's legal action that's public. If they're simply fired, that's less public but you can find out.
That is one thing that really bugs me about all governmental bodies, they protect their own almost without exception. And do not get me started on the biggest crooked body, the democrats!
Outrageous... but not really surprising in Obama’s Amerika these days...
Check this out
Postal workers paid to do nothing
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2334647/posts?page=3
Would we find out if the employee was suspended? I would think not? In fact, I believe the employee will be given a slap on the wrist, and that is about all. Anything else and I would be very surprised.
Anyone know if this is a felony?
Just do it and get out of our hair with your suspicions ~ call the Inspectors, call the guy's District Manager ~ they're all used to dealing with complaints.
That surprises me!
Things like that NEVER occur in the private sector ~
****We don’t even have a sworn statement ~ just a claim that this parked vehicle was in a parade. It continues to appear to be quite parked. Get a picture of it in the parade please.****
Notice the Minivan behind the postal truck. It has posters all over the side. This looks to me like the staging area for the parade route beginning.
That being said, the posters on the gov vehicles are clearly illegal.
Another way to put it is that privae sector people simply have no idea what really goes on in the postal service ~ none at all!
They are illegal only if they pertain to Republicans.
Personally I believe he/he will be counseled and the matter dropped. No suspension, no firing.
Can you epound on that statement. Is it bad or good?
However, it is clearly parked!
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