Fed by Day, Political Candidate by Night?

As if their day jobs aren’t exhausting enough, two federal employees this month became the subject of Office of Special Counsel complaints for Hatch Act violations. Their offense? Running for public office.

Noting that the Hatch Act since 1993 has prohibited executive branch employees from running in a partisan election while still on Uncle Sam’s payroll, OSC asked the Merit Systems Protection Board to order “appropriate disciplinary” action against one employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and another at the U.S. Postal Service. 

Punishment could range from suspension, firing or debarment from federal service to a civil fine.

Last year, OSC filed a complaint against an Army Corps of Engineers employee who ran for county sheriff in Arkansas.

OSC in a statement said the Seattle-based NOAA employee (not named) became a candidate in the 2014 election for a seat in the U.S. House “despite repeated warnings from both NOAA and OSC that the Hatch Act prohibited him from doing so.” He had also sought the same political office in 2012, and OSC “advised him following that candidacy that he had violated the Hatch Act and cautioned him against future violations. OSC provided him with an opportunity to withdraw his 2014 candidacy, but he refused to come into compliance with the Hatch Act.”

OSC’s complaint against the USPS employee said he ran as an independent candidate in a 2014 partisan election for county commissioner in Tennessee. “Despite OSC and the USPS’s warnings about the Hatch Act, he remained a USPS employee while pursuing his candidacy,” OSC stated. “He won the election and currently holds elective office.”