[EL] FEC employee and Hatch Act -- RE: ELB News and Commentary 5/2/14

[Scarberry, Mark]

Interesting WaPo headline that puts Obama-bashing first, when it was an *FEC* employee (with an agency charged with supervising political speech) who bashed Romney, and a civilian Air Force employee who bashed Obama.

On the other hand, the text of the article (the responsibility of the reporter, one assumes, rather than the headline-writing editors) seems balanced, and the sanctions imposed seem proportional to the gravity of the offenses.

A Hatch Act question: if the FEC employee did this on the employee's own time, off the workplace premises, and not using a government email account or other government resources, would there be a Hatch Act violation? The article doesn't, as far as I could see (but I didn't read it carefully) give details on that employee's activities. I assume there's a specific statute or reg dealing with FEC staff in addition to the Hatch Act; is that correct?

Mark

Mark S. Scarberry
Pepperdine University School of Law


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-------- Original message --------
From: Rick Hasen
Date:05/02/2014 9:38 AM (GMT-08:00)
To: law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/2/14

-------- Original message --------
From: Rick Hasen
Date:05/02/2014 9:38 AM (GMT-08:00)
To: law-election at UCI.edu
Subject: [EL] ELB News and Commentary 5/2/14

<http://electionlawblog.org/>
“Two federal employees disciplined for bashing Obama and Romney at work”<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61152>
Posted on May 2, 2014 9:29 am<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=61152> by Rick Hasen<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>

WaPo<http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/05/01/two-federal-employees-disciplined-for-bashing-obama-and-romney-at-work/>: “A former Federal Elections Commission employee and an Air Force civilian admitted to engaging in prohibited political activities on the job, including criticizing the 2012 presidential nominees, according to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.”

More:

The FEC worker’s actions add fuel to Republican suspicions that the agency, which enforces campaign-finance laws, has become a tool for the left. GOP lawmakers have suggested that the commission has long wanted to undermine the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited funds on elections.

“I think you can understand why reports of this nature make Republicans somewhat wary of the FEC and [its] ability to regulate their behavior,” Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said Wednesday during a Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing.

[cid:part6.09080707.07000208 at law.uci.edu]<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org%2F%3Fp%3D61152&title=%E2%80%9CTwo%20federal%20employees%20disciplined%20for%20bashing%20Obama%20and%20Romney%20at%20work%E2%80%9D&description=>
Posted in campaign finance<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=10>, federal election commission<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=24>

...
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Rick Hasen
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UC Irvine School of Law
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