President Obama’s brother-in-law Konrad Ng may have been involved in a federal Hatch Act violation, Buzzfeed reported Thursday:
The Maryland Democratic Party appears to have skirted federal law on political activities by government employees, identifying President Barack Obama’s brother-in-law Konrad Ng as the Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program in an email on the party’s Asian American and Pacific Leadership Council.
Ng’s wife, Maya Soetoro-Ng, is identified as Obama’s sister in the email, which advertises a conference call organized by the Obama campaign in Chicago.
The Obama re-election campaign admitted that a violation may have occurred:
"We have been careful on this point at every possible turn, but sometimes there are slips beyond our control. In all other communications we are aware of he was listed as brother-in-law," the official said.
Legal expert Richard Painter tells the Washington Free Beacon, "It seems that he used his official title in violation of the Act. The fact that it is the President's brother-in-law will get some press—and does make the campaign look sloppy when it comes to the Hatch Act."
The Konrad Ng matter is the latest in a series of potential Hatch Act violations by the Obama administration.