McClatchy reporters Marisa Taylor and Kevin Hall have a new story out on additional potential Hatch Act violations by the Commerce and Treasury Departments.  Most of us are familiar with the hearings that Rep. Henry Waxman has chaired for the House Oversight Committees investigation of the General Service Administration (GSA) and the powerpoint presentation GSA Adminstrator Lolita Doan presented to agency staff and her remark about helping GOP candidates.  Taylor and Hall discovered:

Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.

Political appointees in the Treasury Department received at least 10 political briefings from July 2001 to August 2006, officials familiar with the meetings said. Their counterparts at the Commerce Department received at least four briefings -- all in the election years of 2002, 2004 and 2006.