U.S. Government Watchdog Says Biden HHS Chief Becerra Violated Hatch Act

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra violated the Hatch Act by using his official authority or influence to affect the result of an election while speaking at a public event last year, a U.S. government watchdog said on Tuesday.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel reported Becerra “crossed the line” at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Annual Awards Gala dinner in September when he conveyed his support for Democratic California Senator Alex Padilla’s re-election in a 2022 U.S. Senate race.

“Not only did Secretary Becerra express pride at having Senator Padilla as his Senator, he referred to him as “someone [he] will be voting for in a little bit more than a month….,” Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner said in a letter to President Joe Biden, who appointed Becerra as the HHS Secretary for the Executive branch in March 2021.

According to the watchdog analysis, Becerra is subject to the Hatch Act, which restricts the political activity of “any individual, other than the President and the Vice President, employed or holding office in… an Executive agency other than the Government Accountability Office.”

Kerner said Becerra “impermissibly mixed his personal electoral preference with official remarks.”