GovernmentExecutive.com

White House counsel Fred Fielding has sent a memo to agencies urging them to provide Hatch Act briefings to all of their employees by the end of the year, IEC Journal reports.

"The 2008 election cycle will present many opportunities for federal employees to be involved in the political process," Fielding writes in the memo, "either through their own initiative or through outreach from campaigns." But agencies, he said, need to "ensure that those federal employees who choose to participate in political activity do so in accordance with the high ethical standards the president expects."

Fielding's office will be conducting its own set of Hatch Act briefings for White House staff. Judging from a whole series of events that have unfolded this year, that seems like a prudent idea.