Davis to OSC: Hand over e-mails from Bloch's personal account

Tom Davis (R-Va.), ranking member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has sent a letter to Office of Special Counsel head Scott Bloch, asking him to produce copies of e-mail messages he sent using a personal e-mail account.

In the letter, dated today, Davis says Bloch discussed official government business in a June 19 e-mail using an account maintained by America Online.

Davis also sent a letter to AOL Chairman Randy Falco, directing AOL to preserve all e-mail messages from Bloch’s account. He told Falco the committee “is currently investigating whether the use of this account by a federal governmental official may have violated laws relating to the Federal Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act. Indeed, if official government business was conducted on this e-mail account, these records are government property.”

At a July 12 workforce subcommittee hearing on OSC reauthorization, Davis released an e-mail Bloch sent June 19 at 11:52 a.m. In the message, he accused Davis of saying “reckless things about OSC’s report [on the Hatch Act investigation of General Services Administration Administrator Lurita Doan] and calling for my resignation.” In the same message, Bloch said he expected to be “raked over the coals” by Davis and Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) in upcoming hearing on OSC reauthorization.

Davis sent a second letter to Bloch today, posing seven pages of follow-up questions to Bloch’s testimony at the subcommittee hearing.
The questions relate to the personal e-mail message and Bloch’s handling of the Doan investigation. Davis has accused Bloch of leaking a draft of OSC's report on Doan to the press, indicating that the office’s inquiry was biased. The report concludes that Doan violated the Hatch Act during a meeting at GSA with Republican political appointees.