The ex-FEMA supervisor who last year ordered underlings to “avoid homes advertising Trump” when aiding hurricane-hit areas was engaging in illegal partisan political activity, a federal watchdog says.
The US Office of Special Counsel filed a Hatch Act complaint on Tuesday against ousted Federal Emergency Management Agency higher-up Marn’i Washington for ordering her staffers in October to not offer disaster-relief services to Hurricane Milton victims in Florida supporting the Republican president’s campaign.
OSC investigators “confirmed that Ms. Washington repeatedly told her subordinate crew members not to visit properties with Trump 2024 campaign signage” while canvassing Lake Placid — which constituted unlawful political work and trying to “influence” the 2024 election, the office said.
“Engaging in political activity while on duty and using her official authority or influence to interfere with or affect the results of an election” is a violation of the Hatch Act, the officials said of Washington.
Washington, 39, could now be subject to potential civil penalties or debarment from any future federal employment should the Merit Systems Protection Board — the federal-worker appeals panel — agree her actions violated the 1939 law.
“Avoid homes advertising Trump,” Washington had written in a “best practices” message to employees, as first by the Daily Wire.
Her memo included a laundry list of other more mundane instructions for her workers, too, such as to not go “anywhere alone,” practice “de-escalation,” stay hydrated and “follow the rules.”
FEMA staffers ended up passing by at least 20 homes displaying Trump signs or flags between late October and early November, denying residents the opportunity to sign up for federal disaster relief assistance in the wake of the Category 3 hurricane’s landfall.
After being ousted, Washington carped in an interview that skipping over “politically hostile” homes was a common practice at FEMA, which former agency administrator Deanne Criswell later denied in congressional testimony.
“FEMA preaches avoidance first, and then de-escalation,” Washington claimed to YouTube podcaster Roland Martin. “This is not isolated. This is a colossal event of avoidance.
“Not just in the state of Florida. You will find avoidance in the Carolinas.”
An agency official previously acknowledged to The Post that it was an open secret under the Biden administration that employees steered clear of “white or conservative-dominated” disaster zones altogether — and that Washington likely received “very clear guidance” from her supervisors.
“I have heard from other entities who are serving in North Carolina that there was clear guidance saying to be ‘mindful’ of the types of people who are in Western North Carolina — they’re largely Republican, very conservative — very derogatory sorts of references in their culture,” the employee revealed at the time.
Criswell claimed in a House Oversight Committee hearing in late November that Washington’s case was “an isolated incident” and that there was no FEMA policy to ignore so-called “politically hostile” homes.
“One of Congress’s goals in passing the Hatch Act was to ensure that government programs are administered in a nonpartisan manner,” said OSC Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger in a statement.
“OSC has determined this employee violated the Hatch Act by instructing subordinates to avoid homes with certain campaign signs. A federal employee clearly violates the Hatch Act by engaging in explicit partisan political bias or activity when on the job.”
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