Terry Adirim, the former senior defense official who may have sidestepped the law to implement the Department of Defense (DOD)’s vaccine mandate, appears to have tried to sidestep the law again — this time by liking a tweet soliciting political donations, in potential violation of the Hatch Act.
Adirim, now an official at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), liked a tweet soliciting donations to Democrats just weeks before the 2022 midterm elections. Doing so is not allowed under the Hatch Act, which seeks to make sure federal employees do not engage in politics while in an official role.
The tweet, by a doctor named Mark Shrime on October 30, said:
If you are not voting blue this election then you’re voting to end our Democracy. Please take a moment to donate and/or share this link. We need this win for the right to choose and for America!
#VoteBlueForDemocracy
He included a link to ActBlue, a fundraising organization for the Democratic National Committee.
Adirim liked Shrime’s tweet, as shown in the below screenshot captured by Breitbart News:
According to the Hatch Act, a federal employee — even when not on duty — cannot “like” a post soliciting political contributions at any time.
The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) states in its Hatch Act guidelines for federal employees on social media: “No federal employee may ‘like’ a post soliciting for partisan political contributions at any time.”
The guidelines also state: “Liking, Sharing, or Retweeting Solicitations Rule: Employees, even when not on duty or in the workplace, may not like, share, or retweet a post that solicits political contributions, including invitations to fundraising events.”
Asked if Adirim violated the Hatch Act, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said in a statement:
VA will not comment on personnel matters and notes that by law, the Office of Special Counsel has exclusive authority to render advisory opinions on and investigate allegations of political activity prohibited by the Hatch Act; and the Merit Systems Protection Board has exclusive authority to determine whether a violation of the Hatch Act has occurred.
VA employees are expected to refrain from political activity as set forth in the Hatch Act and provide world class service to all Veterans regardless of political affiliation.
After Breitbart News’ query, Adirim unliked the tweet.
It is not the first time Adirim has drawn controversy.
Adirim, while she was at the DOD, authored a memo that directed defense health care providers to consider the vaccine that was approved under Emergency Use Authorization to be the same as the FDA-approved vaccine, Comirnaty, when implementing the DOD vaccine mandate.
The law allows for the Defense Department to only mandate an FDA-approved vaccine, not an EUA-vaccine — unless the defense secretary requests and receives a presidential waiver. Breitbart News asked the DOD if it ever received a waiver, but did not receive a direct response.
After Adirim’s memo, another defense official suggested replacing her memo with one that allowed troops to wait for the actual FDA-approved vaccine before being punished, but the DOD did not adopt the idea, as exclusively reported by Breitbart News.
The military has kicked out more than 8,000 service members who did not comply with the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate as ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in August 2021.
Adirim locked her Twitter account after facing questions from service members who opposed the vaccine mandate.
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