Gingrich Would Fire Liberal Federal Employees

Exactly how does Newt Gingrich hatch his ideas? Recent brainstorms include firing school janitors so that poor kids can scrub floors, and impeaching and arresting “radical” judges. Today, at a Fox News forum in South Carolina, he proposed firing federal employees who are too liberal, stating, “I think an intelligent conservative wants the right federal employees delivering the right services in a highly efficient way and then wants to get rid of those folks who are in fact wasteful, or those folks who are ideologically so far to the left, or those people who want to frankly dictate to the rest of us.”

Such a proposal would seem to be illegal, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel:

Generally stated, § 2302(b) provides that a federal employee who has authority over personnel decisions may not:

(1) discriminate against an employee or applicant based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicapping condition, marital status, or political affiliation;

Of course, Gingrich has already indicated that, as president, he’d feel free to ignore Supreme Court decisions. Why, then, would he feel restrained by the Office of Special Counsel?