Obama White House cavalier toward technology policies aimed at preventing abuses of Presidential Records Act

The e-mails have also drawn the ire of Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, top GOP oversight official and Obama’s chief congressional tormentor.

The e-mails “[beg] the question who does McLaughlin work for, the United States or Google,” Issa said in a June 9 e-mail to White House counsel Bob Bauer. Issa’s letter demands further information from the White House including whether McLaughlin is bypassing his official e-mail account on other matters.

On that front, besides the content of the e-mails, McLaughlin sent numerous e-mails from his personal e-mail account during work hours. A second White House official said neither McLaughlin nor any White House employee has ongoing access to Gmail or other personal e-mail websites from their work computers.

Instead, “Andrew has access to Gmail via his personal handheld device,” the second White House official said.

The source who worked in the White House for approximately the first six months of the administration said the use of personal iPhones, Blackberries and other smart phones is ubiquitous in the White House.

“A lot of the political staff have two Blackberries. One that’s issued by the government and then their other Blackberry. Which they’re using their personal Blackberry while they’re in the office to talk to other people, probably about official business,” the source said.

Are they using their iPhones for official business? “You would think so,” the source said. An “example would be somebody in the political staff texts their counterpart over at the [Democratic National Committee (DNC)] and says, ‘Hey what should we do about this?’ and the person at the DNC says, ‘Well, here’s what we’re doing.’ That’s, obviously, the worst case scenario where you’ve got the actual sort of political collusion which is strictly prohibited by the Hatch Act and then also the violation of the records act at the same time.

“I can say with pretty good certainty that that sort of thing does happen. And that’s exactly what got people started in the Bush administration was that same kind of thing going on between the RNC and the White House,” the source said.

The first White House official said, “The White House takes its [Presidential Records Act] obligations very seriously and the White House counsel’s office regularly briefs staff on their obligations under the [Presidential Records Act], as well as other applicable laws.”

To be clear, the second White House source confirmed only that Colangelo was seeking special deals from vendors and that the two contractors were fired after accusations of political sabotage.

And, on the issue of Colangelo seeking special deals, the first White House official offered a longer, carefully worded defense that denies that practice takes place inside the White House.

Given nearly a week to respond, the official said, “The Office of Administration follows all federal procurement laws in dealing with vendors. As was the case here, it considers only performance when dealing with vendors. The office does not ask for special treatment or deals from vendors; it does work with them to ensure that they can meet the unique and particular technological specifications that are sometimes necessary given the work of the White House.”

The statement is clear that it is not White House policy to ask for special deals. However, it does not directly address Colangelo’s conduct except in the sentence asserting that the White House “considers only performance when dealing with vendors,” by noting that policy was in effect in “the case here.” The Daily Caller did not inquire whether the White House considers purchasing from vendors for reasons other than their performance.