Is Karl Rove in violation of the Hatch Act?

[bluestateguy]

This law, enacted in 1939, prohibits government employees from using their offices in service of political parties and candidates. You cannot, for example, wear political buttons on the job if you are a government worker. You cannot slap a Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker on your postal vehicle if you are a Postal employee. Nor can you, as a government employee, run political campaigns or parties from your office during work hours. In fact, under the Hatch Act you cannot assume a paid position for a campaign while also receiving a government salary. Nor can you use the powers of your office to manipulate political outcomes, which is why federal prosecutors tend to withhold indictments for political figures that are under investigation until after an election has taken place (Bill Jefferson, Rick Renzi, Curt Weldon, etc.).

So the question that must be asked here is has Karl Rove been violating the Hatch Act systematically for 6 years? He has basically been running the RNC out of the West Wing of the White House. He uses his office, which we the taxpayers pay for, to recruit Republican candidates for office, to put out fires in local Republican parties, and to set the strategic themes of the Bush Administration for no other reason than to enhance the electoral fortunes of the Republican Party. He spends every day planning and plotting, strategizing and in some cases outright running Republican campaigns. Everything that he does is done for the purposes of the Republican Party and the next election.

Now it's time to ask and investigate whether or not this kind of behavior by Rove is a violation of the law.