Source: Ida Mae Astute / Getty
An appointee of former president Donald Trump was slapped with a two-year ban from federal government work due to a violation of the Hatch Act. Lynne Patton also paid a $1,000 fine for using her position at HUD to craft a video on behalf of the Republican National Convention.
Some might remember Patton as the event planner who planned Eric Trump’s wedding ahead of her appointment as the Administrator of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for Region II. Previously to her federal appointment, Patton was a speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention and reportedly helped with casting with The Celebrity Apprentice as well.”
Last year, Patton landed in hot water after pulling a stunt while appointed at HUD to call a quartet of New York residents and force them into making comments about their living conditions in a bid to attack Mayor Bill de Blasio. The people Patton called were not informed of her connection with the Trump administration, and she never explained the true nature of the call.
As shown in a press release from the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for her Hatch Act violations, which bars government civil service workers from using their positions to push political agendas, the details of Patton’s punishment were laid out.
From the OSC press release:
As a HUD employee, Patton received permission in early 2019 to temporarily live in and observe living conditions in the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). During her approximately one-month stay, Patton met residents and later leveraged one of these relationships to recruit participants to film a video that would air at the RNC. Patton wanted NYCHA residents to appear in the video to explain how their standard of living had improved under the Trump administration.
By using information and NYCHA connections available to her solely by virtue of her HUD position, Patton improperly harnessed the authority of her federal position to assist the Trump campaign in violation of the Hatch Act. Per the terms of the settlement agreement, Ms. Patton admitted that she engaged in conduct which violated the Hatch Act’s use of official authority prohibition and agreed to accept a 48-month debarment from federal employment and pay a $1,000 civil fine.
We’ve scoured Twitter and other outlets to get any comments from Patton or her legal team, but nothing was located.
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Photo: Getty
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