GovernmentExecutive.com

The Merit Systems Protection Board has ordered the Small Business Administration to fire a Fresno, Calif., lawyer for using his government e-mail account to engage in political work for the Green Party.

The order to fire Jeffrey Eisinger comes in response to a petition for disciplinary action filed by the Office of Special Counsel in January 2005. The MSPB's decision will become final on Dec. 22 unless Eisinger, who has worked for the SBA since 1985, petitions the full board for a review. The board could also decide on its own to reopen the case.

In the 22-page Nov. 17 decision, Joseph Gontram, an administrative law judge for the MSPB, found that Eisinger violated the Hatch Act over a three-year period by using his SBA e-mail account to receive and send more than 100 e-mails related to his position as an elected official in the Green Party of California.

The e-mails related to the Green Party's platform, fund-raising activities, outreach and recruitment strategies, and planning of a statewide convention.

"Eisinger's political activities at work and in his government office were continual and significant," Gontram wrote. Further, Eisinger knew that the Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity while at work, the decision stated.

Eisinger also assured his supervisor, who was aware of his political activities, that he would avoid any unethical behavior, Gontram said.

Technology has brought about many changes, but the law barring the use of government resources for political activities remains, said Special Counsel Scott Bloch, in a statement.

"Whether it's old-school low-tech or new-school high-tech, the Hatch Act remains an important principle our office is dedicated to enforcing," Bloch said.

Eisinger said he is preparing to appeal the case and believes that the ruling establishes a "dangerous precedent if allowed to stand."

"What the OSC did here is sit back and secretly monitor my activity for well over two years before contacting me," Eisinger told Government Executive in an e-mail. "All federal employees should be concerned that the OSC has gone from seeking to prevent Hatch Act violations at the earliest possible point, to adopting tactics whereby they now surreptitiously gather evidence against employees until such time as they have a case which they believe will justify termination."

In April, a an MSPB judge held that sending politically charged e-mails to co-workers over government computer systems does not violate the Hatch Act because such messages are akin to "water-cooler" discussions. The cases leading to that decision, which OSC is appealing, involved two incidences of forwarding an e-mail to fewer than 50 people in the Social Security Administration's Kansas City regional office.

This more recent case differs in that Eisinger was using his e-mail for direct political activity.

In September, OSC charged a Navy employee with violating the Hatch Act after he sent an e-mail to more than 300 people inviting them to a Halloween party for Rep. Tim Holden, D-Pa., who at the time was running for re-election in Pennsylvania's 17th Congressional District.

Special Counsel v. Jeffrey Eisinger, Merit Systems Protection Board, Docket: CB-1216-05-0011-T-1, Nov. 17, 2005.

Shopping Spree

A former Bureau of Land Management supervisor and field manager in Hollister, Calif., was fined and was sentenced to three years probation for using his government charge card to obtain nearly $18,000 in federal funds for personal use.

Robert E. Beehler, 57, was ordered to pay full restitution and was fined $5,000 for his theft and cover-up scheme.

From early 2000 through July 2003, Beehler used the government charge cards and checks drawn on his charge card account to make personal purchases totaling at least $17,939, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California. Beehler made the checks payable to family members and others, and forged endorsements of them, the attorney's office said.

Beehler would then submit fraudulent vouchers claiming that the funds were for legitimate purchases.

The case was investigated by the Interior Department's Inspector General Office and was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Michelle Rodriguez.

Beehler's actions were "unfortunate," said John Dearing, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. He would not comment further on the situation other than to say that the agency has always trained employees on proper use of credit cards.

"We've had ethics training, particularly for upper management, on what can or can't be done," Dearing said. "[The training] is for their own information and also so that they can have oversight over their own employees. And of course we do audits on the system."