Corrupt federal bureaucrats who have operated illegally as political agents have established a pattern and practice of destroying evidence of their crimes by claiming their computer hard drives have “crashed” and the “recycling” them. The lawless contempt for the judiciary has spread from the Internal Revenue Service to Lois Lerner’s old agency, the Federal Election Commission.

April J. Sands, a lawyer at the FEC, was forced to resign her position in April. The UK Daily Mail explains:

April J. Sands resigned her position as an FEC attorney in April 2014 after investigators confronted her with tweets she sent and a video interview she conducted during work hours, advocating for the election of President Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates – and asking people to contribute to their campaigns.

When the FEC's Office of Inspector General began the process of filing criminal charges, however, it found that the agency had destroyed her computer's hard drive before it could be seized. (snip)

Lerner, whose missing emails have made her a political lightning rod, was Sands' supervisor until 2001. FEC documents indicate that as the agency's acting general counsel, Lerner oversaw the younger attorney's work.

Following an investigation into her partisan political activity, Sands admitted to the FEC's Office of Special Counsel that she had violated the Hatch Act, a federal law banning partisan politicking by most government employees, and agreed not to seek employment in the federal government for two years.

The special counsel wrote that she had 'posted dozens of partisan political tweets, including many soliciting campaign contributions to President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign.'

She also 'participated in a Huffington Post Live internet broadcast via webcam from an FEC facility, criticizing the Republican Party and then-Presidential candidate Mitt Romney.'

An FEC attorney who is still employed by the agency told MailOnline on Monday that Sands was known in the agency as 'the most enthusiastic pro-Obama lawyer we had.'

'Everyone called her Obama girl,' said the lawyer, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak on the record.

This is criminal activity under the Hatch Act, doing political activity while working at a federal government job on federal government premises. A conviction carries up to a $5000 fine and three years in prison.

Ms. Sands has sent a reported 232,000 tweets since 2010, making her a very busy social media maven. One wonders how much work she accomplished in her job.

We have entered an era in which the destruction of evidence of federal corruption has become routine. If you do not think this is a danger to the republic, you are not thinking straight. We have lawlessness rampant, and a government conspiring to suppress democratic opposition. With Eric Holder riunning the Justice Department, we cannot have much hope for this potential criminal conspiracy did FEC officials just coincidentally recycle the hard drive?) to be prosecuted.