The chairman of the congressional committee that oversees the District’s affairs is launching an investigation into why Occupy DC has been allowed to camp in McPherson Square since October, and whether the Obama administration has allowed the protesters to remain for political purposes.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar alleging that Occupy DC’s presence in the park “appears to violate the law” and questioning why the National Parks Service has not cleared out the makeshift tent city.
“Was the decision based on some precedent or was this a blatant attempt – like the president trying to embrace the rhetoric of Occupy – of the president trying to co-opt the Occupy movement for his own political purposes?” said Issa spokesman Frederick Hill.
Obama was quick to embrace the Occupy Wall Street movement, though he hasn’t emphasized that support as protesters across the country clashed with police.
Camping isn’t allowed at McPherson Square and the occupiers have no permit to be there, but the Park Service considers the protest a “24-hour vigil” and allows it to remain.
Issa told Salazar to turn over by Jan. 3 all correspondence between the Interior Department, the Park Service and the White House related to Occupy DC.
“This situation raises questions about why those decisions were made, who participated in making them and whether political judgments played a role in not enforcing the law,” Issa wrote in a letter made public Tuesday.
Issa took issue with the damage he says the Occupy camp has done to McPherson Square right after $400,000 in economic stimulus money was spent to install new grass and make other improvements there.
“Once the federal government had invested the funds, no government agency should have allowed it to be damaged or destroyed when it legally could have been prevented,” he wrote.
The Park Service has repeatedly said it has no plans to evict the occupiers, citing their First Amendment rights to protest. Though D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray suggested that the city’s patience with the protesters was wearing thin, the District and the federal government have been far more accommodating than officials in other cities. Occupy Baltimore on Tuesday became the latest protest camp to be evicted by police.
Adam Fetcher, an Interior Department spokesman, said the Park Service has been working closely with District police and local officials to ensure that Occupy’s protests are conducted safely and lawfully.
“We are reviewing the letter from Chairman Issa and will respond accordingly,” he said in an email.
Occupier Kelly Mears, who is on a hunger strike to demand congressional voting rights for the District, said there’s “absolutely” a chance that the White House played a role in allowing protesters to stay in McPherson.
“Newt [Gingrich] isn’t in office yet,” he laughed, referring to one of the Republican presidential candidates. “I don’t know why we’re still here, but I’m happy we are.”
