Emails were changed to “include partisan talking points that blamed a government shutdown on Democrats,” according to NBC News. And it’s written in the first-person, as if I’m the one conveying this message, and I’m not. I guess they’re now making us all guilty of violating the Hatch Act,” another Education Department employee said. NBC News added it had reported on Wednesday “that some employees at federal agencies were being offered partisan language blaming Democrats for the shutdown to use as their out-of-office messages. A number of federal websites also now display language going after Democrats or the ‘radical left.