Julian Castro, potential Clinton running mate, slips up
WASHINGTON _ This is not great timing for Julian Castro, who is on Hillary Clinton's short list of potential running mates.
The charismatic political rising star serving as President Barack Obama's secretary of Housing and Urban Development has gotten himself into trouble for mixing politics with his government job. An investigation by the Office of Special Counsel found Castro recently violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits such co-mingling.
The transgression took place during an April interview with Katie Couric on Yahoo News. The interview was coordinated through Castro's government office and took place with the HUD seal behind him. During it, Castro answered a few questions about his agency's work until conversation turned, predictably, to the upcoming presidential election.
Such interviews happen all the time. But investigators found Castro left the impression that he was speaking on behalf of HUD, and not as a private citizen, when he made his pitch for Hillary Clinton during the interview. As investigators put it, he had "impermissibly mixed his personal political views with official government agency business."
_Tribune Washington Bureau
