The bright red box on the U.S. Housing and Urban Development website minces no words.

“The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government,” it reads.

A message in the rust-colored box at the top of the U.S. Department of Agriculture website is much the same.

“Due to the Radical Left Democrat shutdown, this government website will not be updated during the funding lapse,” it reads. “President Trump has made it clear he wants to keep the government open and support those who feed, fuel and clothe the American people.”

Statements like those — found on a number of federal websites this week after the federal government shut down over a budget impasse — might be in violation of ethics laws, experts say.

Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served as the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007, doesn’t think such messages belong on the websites of the federal government’s 400-plus agencies.

“They’re so highly partisan, and they’re conveying a political message,” Painter told TribLive on Thursday. “It’s pretty clear what’s going on — this is a political power play.”

Under the Hatch Act of 1939, an employee of the U.S. government may not use his official authority or influence to interfere or affect an election.

And under the Anti-Lobbying Act, originally passed in 1919, career federal officials may not use funds appropriated by Congress to lobby Congress to influence pending legislation.

Both of those statutes are implicated by the messaging from the Trump administration, Painter said.

“It’s really close to the line on the Hatch Act,” Painter said. “And if any of this is used to influence an election — like the governor’s race in Virginia — it would become a violation.”

But Painter does think the messaging violates the Anti-Lobbying Act.

Various federal agencies under Trump, of whom Painter is highly critical, are being used to lobby Democrats to drop their demands and vote for the bill to open the government.

“I don’t think they can do that,” Painter said.

Examples abound. The Small Business Administration posted a “special announcement,” for instance, with white letters against a red background:

“Senate Democrats voted to block a clean federal funding bill (H.R. 5371), leading to a government shutdown that is preventing the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) from serving America’s 36 million small businesses.”

‘Partisan screeds’

Since the government shutdown began just after midnight Wednesday and the agency notices went up, good-government groups have filed complaints about potential Hatch Act violations.

Craig Holman of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, has filed nine such complaints since Wednesday over messaging by the Centers for Disease Control (“Democrat-led government shutdown”), Department of Justice (“Democrats have shut down the government”), Food and Drug Administration (“Democrat-led government shutdown”) and the White House (“Democrats have shut down the government”).

“The Trump administration is violating the Hatch Act with reckless abandon — using taxpayer dollars to plaster partisan screeds on every government homepage that they can get their hands on,” Holman said in a news release.

“Even for an administration that flouts ethics guidelines regularly, these messages are a particularly egregious and clear-cut sign that Trump and his Cabinet see themselves as above the law.”

Public Citizen’s complaints are filed with the Office of Special Counsel, which describes itself as an independent investigative and prosecutorial agency that enforces the Hatch Act.

The act, according to the office, “puts certain restrictions on partisan political activity by government employees.”

A straightforward message on the special counsel office’s website notifies visitors it is closed “due to a lapse in appropriations.”

Traditionally, the Office of Special Counsel investigates Hatch Act violations, Painter said.

But Trump fired the head of that office in March.

Ethics violations also can be investigated by federal agency inspectors general or the head of the Office of Government Ethics.

Trump fired 17 inspectors general Jan. 24, attributing their removal to “changing priorities.” He removed the director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics in February.

In the alternative, Painter said, Congress could exercise oversight — including having hearings on the potential violations.

“Their job is to oversee the president and executive branch — to keep the executive branch in check,” Painter said. “Congress should be doing its job, and Congress isn’t.”

“We need to see the Democrats and Republicans be willing to stand up for the rule of law here.”

Eroding public trust?

Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University, called the website messaging a blatant violation.

“The whole point is to make sure government officials are acting apolitically,” she said. “You cannot use public facilities and tools in order to act in a political manner.”

The law requires “neutral competence,” Dagnes said, “for federal employees to perform their duties with professional expertise and without political bias.

“That is being denied here. There’s no way this works as being neutral.

“It’s not even a close call.”

For both acts, any violations are primarily civil unless there’s proof someone ordered or coerced the employee to engage in politics, Painter said.

As for the civil penalties, he continued, the presumptive penalty would be termination.

But here, Painter said, “the head of the agency is encouraging the behavior.”

So then, he continued, it becomes a problem of “what are you going to do about it?”

Dagnes said the Trump administration believes the executive should hold all the power, and by publishing messaging like this, it will further erode the public’s trust in the federal government.

“My thought is that it is very much on purpose,” Dagnes said. “This is where we have now moved into a kind of authoritarianism which will not likely garner as much attention.”

Like Painter, Dagnes believes the way for the public to address it is by contacting their congressional representatives.

“Congress has completely abdicated their responsibility of legislative oversight,” she said. “They have a duty to punish this anti-democratic behavior.”

National Public Radio reported the White House Office of Management and Budget emailed staffers at various agencies and departments, telling them “any lapse in government funding would be ‘forced by Congressional Democrats.’”

Workers at the Small Business Administration were given “suggested language” for their out-of-office replies blaming the shutdown on Senate Democrats, NPR reported.

Shutdown clock

At the White House website, in addition to its message laying blame on the Democrats, there was a shutdown clock counting how long the government has been sidelined, as well as a list of organizations it says supported a continuing resolution to keep government open.

An article posted Wednesday on the website is titled: “Democrats Betray Americans with Government Shutdown.”

It begins: “Democrats have officially brought on a full-blown government shutdown — engineered by the Radical Left lunatics who control their party.”

The article alleges the shutdown will harm those who receive food assistance, cause travel delays and disruptions to Social Security services and suspend funding for inpatient home care and telehealth services for Medicare patients.

“The list is endless as the effects ripple across all sectors of the American economy — and it’s all Democrats’ fault,” the article said. “President Trump and Republicans have been clear: Republicans will not be held hostage by this unserious, shameful political gamesmanship by Democrats.

“This shutdown is 100% on Democrats, whose radical agenda is poisoning our politics and punishing our people.”

Painter said the president can be as partisan as he wants.

“But it’s concerning that the same messaging is coming from the White House and various federal agencies.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)