U.S. agency probes Interior Secretary for possible Hatch Act violation
By: Valerie Volcovici, Reuters, October 3, 2017
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is investigating whether Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke violated a law barring executive branch employees from engaging in political activity when he gave a speech to a professional hockey team owned by a political donor in June, the agency said on Tuesday.
The investigation came after a watchdog group, the Campaign for Accountability, last week complained Zinke’s speech on June 26 to the Vegas Golden Knights, a National Hockey League team based in Las Vegas, violated the Hatch Act. The team is owned by Bill Foley, chairman of Fidelity National Financial Inc and a donor to Zinke’s congressional campaigns.