When women wanted to discuss Social Security at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, the library's director said NO, unless they invite a speaker in favor of Bush's private accounts plan.
Gee, and while we are at it, let's ban civil rights discussions at the Lincoln Memorial unless a Bush representative is present????
From the Washington Post: (NOTE: Not on Washington Post Web site yet)
By Dana Milbank (c) 2005, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON - To the already raucous fight over Social Security, add a new - and unlikely - government agency: the National Archives and Records Administration.
The guardian of the nation's historical records has joined the fray over President Bush's plan for private Social Security accounts. Last week, it blocked a coalition of women's organizations from holding a Social Security forum at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, N.Y., because the groups oppose Bush's proposed personal accounts.
"If you cannot provide at least one speaker who will speak on the features and merits of the administration's plan for Social Security, then I must ask that you find another venue for your program," the library's director, Cynthia Koch, wrote on March 31 to one of the groups sponsoring the forum. The library at the home of FDR - who fathered the Social Security system 70 years ago - is administered by the National Archives.
Wrote Koch: "Changes to the Social Security system are now the president's highest priority on his domestic agenda in Congress; therefore, in order to be in compliance with the Hatch Act, I must require you to present a program that is balanced in presenting both sides of the Social Security debate."
Koch said the forum would be against federal regulations because it "may be perceived as being partisan."
A spokeswoman for the Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the Hatch Act, said it is not at issue because the groups' meeting on Social Security, a topic of public policy, "does not seem to involve a partisan campaign or activity."
The Hatch Act restricts partisan activities by government employees; it says federal buildings cannot be used for "campaign activities," defined as those promoting a political party, a political group or a candidate for partisan political office. The act does not prohibit policy-related activities.
The three groups - the Older Women's League, the American Association of University Women, and the League of Women Voters - are nonpartisan. The organizations oppose private Social Security accounts, but they invited two Republicans from New York, Reps. Sue Kelly and John Sweeney, to participate. They declined, but Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., accepted.