Funny Business at the Agriculture Dept.

A disturbing pattern of promotions of Agriculture Department employees who donated to Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign is now under criminal investigation by the Justice Department. Has the Civil Service merit system been compromised by political pay-backs? The possibility must be explored rigorously.

Last November The Times reported allegations that contributors had been rewarded with better jobs. In December an inquiry was begun by the Office of Special Counsel, which is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the Civil Service system. That investigation is separate from the Justice Department’s.

At issue in both investigations is whether the Hatch Act has been violated. Under it, federal workers may donate to campaigns but nearly all solicitations and collections of campaign funds by civil servants are prohibited, particularly at governmental workplaces. Violations are punishable by suspension or dismissal from jobs.

Thirty-eight high-ranking Civil Service employees of the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, then the nation’s major domestic farm aid program, gave $50 to $500 to the Farmers & Ranchers ’92 PAC, which raised funds from farm interests for Democratic candidates and heavily backed Clinton.

Times staff writer Alan C. Miller reported last fall that some donors had been solicited by colleagues and gave checks to co-workers; some of these said they were approached at their federal offices. The Administration promoted 21 of the donors or gave them desirable temporary or permanent positions. Former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, who resigned last October amid an independent-counsel inquiry into allegations of accepting illegal gratuities, had been the PAC’s national chairman.

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) plans to hold oversight hearings this summer on the fund-raising. The investigations and hearings should make one thing clear: Political fealty is not to be a measure of performance in Civil Service.