Lurita Doan

Federal investigators have written a sharply worded critique of the beleaguered chief of the General Services Administration, Lurita Alexis Doan, accusing her of violating the law by improperly attempting to use her agency to help Republican political candidates. "The GSA administrator displayed no reservations in her willingness to commit GSA resources, including its human capital, to the Republican Party," the report says.

Federal investigators have written a sharply worded critique of the beleaguered chief of the General Services Administration, Lurita Alexis Doan, accusing her of violating the law by improperly attempting to use her agency to help Republican political candidates. "The GSA administrator displayed no reservations in her willingness to commit GSA resources, including its human capital, to the Republican Party," the report says.

The head of the General Services Administration should be "punished to the fullest extent" for violating a ban on political advocacy on government time, a watchdog agency has concluded. The Office of Special Counsel, in a letter to President Bush, said GSA chief Lurita Alexis Doan engaged in "the most pernicious of political activity" banned by the 1939 Hatch Act when she asked, at a meeting of agency political appointees, how they could help GOP candidates.

Re "On race, Harvard still must learn," Opinion, Aug. 2 Lurita Doan chides Henry Louis Gates Jr. for being "locked in the past regarding race," suggesting that he sees himself as a victim and also demands preferential treatment. But her conclusions rest on unquestioned acceptance of Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley's version of events. Crowley's police report states that the 911 caller told him "she observed what appeared to be two black men with backpacks" at Gates' home. This caller has emphatically denied to the media that she made any such racially tinged statement.

The chief of the U.S. General Services Administration attempted to give a no-bid contract to a company founded and operated by a longtime friend, sidestepping federal laws and regulations, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Washington Post.

Federal agents Tuesday swarmed the home and office of the Bush administration official responsible for protecting government whistle-blowers, part of an investigation into whether the official retaliated against his employees and obstructed justice. More than a dozen agents participated in the daylong raid, temporarily shutting down the e-mail and computer systems of the Office of Special Counsel and confiscating several desktop computers, including that of Scott J. Bloch, the agency head.

Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch met with White House Counsel Fred F. Fielding on Thursday as he pushed ahead with an ambitious inquiry into White House political operations. "I came away believing that the White House intends to cooperate and was glad to open channels of communication," said Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel. Bloch said he and Fielding set up procedures that his agency would use to investigate the firing of at least one U.S.

James M. Byrne, second in command at the embattled Office of Special Counsel, resigned his post effective Saturday after leaving his boss, Scott J. Bloch, a stinging letter suggesting that Bloch's "political agendas and personal vendettas" were preventing the agency from fulfilling its mission.