White House says it conducted about 20 briefings for federal employees on GOP's prospects

WASHINGTON — The White House acknowledged Thursday it has conducted about 20 briefings recently for federal agency employees on the election prospects of Republican candidates — the sort of meetings that sparked an investigation into whether Bush aides engaged in illegal political activity.

An independent investigative unit, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, this week launched a probe into a presentation by Bush aide J. Scott Jennings to political appointees at the General Services Administration. At issue is whether the January session violated the federal Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activities with government resources or on government time.

The Office of Special Counsel is in charge of enforcing the Hatch Act.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said briefings were held at other federal agencies besides the GSA, for a total of about 20 — most in 2006 and a couple in 2007. They were conducted by White House political director Sara Taylor or Jennings, her deputy. It had been known that other briefings had been held, but not how many.

Others were held in previous years as well, but Stanzel said the White House hasn't kept a count of how many.

Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said no laws were broken and that the White House counsel's office signed off on the effort.

"It's not unlawful and it wasn't unusual for informational briefings to be given," Perino said. "There is no prohibition under the Hatch Act of allowing political appointees to talk to other political appointees about the political landscape in which they are trying to advance the president's agenda."

She added: "These briefings were not inappropriate, they were not unlawful, they were not unethical."

Some Democrats beg to differ.

They have alleged that at the end of the January presentation at GSA, Administrator Lurita Doan asked all present to consider how they could use the agency to "help our candidates" in 2008. They also question whether the PowerPoint demonstration Jennings used violated the Hatch Act.