Federal Official Calls for Hatch Act Changes

In an editorial in the New York Times, the head of the United States Office of Special Counsel (OSC), calls for changes to the 72 year old Hatch Act.  Carolyn Lerner says that the law “is broken and needs to be fixed.”

OSC is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency that enforces four federal statutes, including the Hatch Act, which limits the political activity of government employees.

Lerner writes:

Increasingly, the act is being used as a political weapon to disqualify otherwise well-qualified candidates, even when there is no indication of wrongdoing. An allegation that a candidate has violated federal law — simply by stepping forward to run — can cast a cloud.

Of course, the would-be candidate could give up his day job. But the day job usually pays the rent, and many of the elective offices being sought pay little or nothing. Forcing people to resign in order to participate in the democratic process is unfair and bad policy.

She says she has asked Congress to enact Hatch Act reforms that would remove restrictions on state and local government workers who want to run for elected office.

The last major revision of the Hatch Act was in 1993, when the law was changed to permit great political involvement by many federal and postal employees.