NTU Letter:

Sign-on letter to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT)

March 31, 2004

Dear Chairman Hatch and Ranking Member Leahy:

The undersigned organizations urge you to add provisions to the Senate ONDCP Reauthorization Act (S. 1860) similar to those in the House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2086) prohibiting the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign from being used for "express advocacy in support of or to defeat any clearly identified candidate, clearly identified ballot initiative, or clearly identified legislative or regulatory proposal" (Section 709(d)(3) of H.R. 2086).

Simply put, regardless of the issue, taxpayer money should never be used by government officials to influence election outcomes. We urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to adopt language similar to the House bill and apply the House prohibition to all federal agencies.

The problem of federal officials campaigning on the taxpayer's dime is real and it is bipartisan. In 1999, Clinton administration officials campaigned against a state initiative that would have allowed the "concealed carry" of handguns. During the 2002 election, federal campaigning on a ballot initiative in Nevada was so intense that the state's Attorney General complained in a letter to the Nevada Secretary of State that, "it is unfortunate that a representative of the federal government substantially intervened in a matter that was clearly a State of Nevada issue. The excessive federal intervention that was exhibited in this instance is particularly disturbing because it sought to influence the outcome of a Nevada election."

We are deeply concerned that the precedent of allowing for campaigning by ONDCP officials will inevitably lead to campaigning by IRS officials, EPA officials, and other officials from myriad federal agencies that have a direct stake in the electoral process. This concern is even more grave now that the Office of Special Counsel has ruled that the Hatch Act does not apply to ballot measures, thus giving federal bureaucrats the green light to use taxpayer money and government employees to campaign for or against local and state ballot measures. [1]

The danger of allowing public officials to campaign should be obvious to all Members of the Committee. It is important to reiterate, however, that the role of government — and by extension government officials — is to respond to the will of the American people, not influence the will of the people. Forcing taxpayers to fund the salaries of public officials to campaign, not to mention the costs of campaign advertising and other political activities, is unconscionable.

In addition to adding provisions prohibiting the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign from being used to influence elections and legislation, we urge you to amend S. 1860 to explicitly prohibit the agency from using any taxpayer money to influence elections and legislation. We also urge you to put such provisions in bills reauthorizing other agencies. We appreciate your hard work in ensuring that taxpayer money is never used for political purposes.