Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a videoconference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates. Rove employee J. Scott Jennings presented polling data about the 2006 elections to GSA chief Lurita Doan and her regional administrators, after which Doan allegedly asked the administrators to "help 'our candidates' in the next elections."

The GSA is the government's leading procurement agency, handling about $56 billion of federal contracts annually. The videoconference may have violated the federal Hatch Act, restricting executive-branch employees from using their positions for political purposes. Violators do not face criminal penalties but can lose their jobs. Congress is also expected to question Doan about her attempt to give a no-bid job to a friend and professional associate last year. Jennings is implicated in investigations of the politicized firings of 8 US attorneys.

Main Source: Washington Post