U.S. House panel votes to subpoena Trump adviser Conway on Hatch Act

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee voted 25-16 on Wednesday to subpoena testimony from White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway after she failed to appear at a hearing about her alleged violations of the Hatch Act, a law that limits federal employees' political activity.

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), a U.S. government watchdog agency, earlier this month recommended Conway be fired for repeatedly violating the Hatch Act by disparaging Democratic presidential candidates while speaking in her official capacity during television interviews and on social media.

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Consistent with a pattern of stonewalling numerous congressional investigations of President Donald Trump, his administration and business interests, the White House has asserted that Conway did not need to testify to the committee.

Henry Kerner, who runs the Office of Special Counsel, said at the committee hearing that Conway left him "no choice" but to recommend her termination because she has committed "at least 10 separate Hatch Act violations, expressed no remorse and continues to express disdain" for the law.

Kerner is a Trump appointee who previously worked for Republican lawmakers in Congress. His office is an independent agency that enforces the Hatch Act. It is not connected to the office of former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

"Here, we have a clear-cut case of a federal employee violating federal law over and over and over again ... and we have the White House asserting that Congress may not question this employee," said Elijah Cummings, the Oversight Committee's chairman. "This is the opposite of accountability, and it is contrary to our fundamental system of laws in this country."

Representative Jim Jordan, the committee's top Republican, said Democrats were seeking to limit Conway's free speech rights because they disagreed with her views and because she has been an effective advocate for the president's agenda.

Some Democratic lawmakers said at the hearing that their Republican colleagues were letting their loyalty to Trump interfere with upholding the rule of law.

"He's not a partisan. He's not some wild-eyed liberal. He's doing his job,” Representative Gerald Connolly, a Democrat from Virginia, said of Kerner.

Kerner testified that his concerns about Conway could also be addressed by her formally becoming an adviser to Trump's reelection campaign, rather than a White House employee.

Kerner's report on June 13 criticized Conway for a "pattern of partisan attacks" on Democrats running for president, including a media interview where she insinuated that Senator Cory Booker was "sexist."

An earlier OSC report from March 2018 cited Conway for favoring a Republican candidate over a Democrat in an interview discussing a special Senate election in Alabama in 2017. The White House said she was only expressing Trump's preference.

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In a June 11 letter, the top White House lawyer said the OSC has adopted an "overbroad and unsupported interpretation of the Hatch Act," that chills the free speech rights of U.S. government employees.

The White House's letter also accused Kerner's team of bias against Conway, saying they recommended her termination because they felt disrespected by public comments she made about the OSC.

The OSC can make such recommendations, but does not have the authority to enforce them.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Chizu Nomiyama, Bill Berkrot and G Crosse)