Hatched!

Carolyn Lerner, head of, the United States Office of Special Counsel, has some bad things to say about the Hatch Act, which she must enforce. It "is broken and needs to be fixed"

She's right.

As originally conceived, the Hatch Act protected the federal civil service and military officers from being forced to take part in partisan activities. That's good. I was under that protection for thirty years and welcomed it.

But then it expanded to prevent certain local, county and state employees from running for public office because they are in some way, no matter how trivially, tied to a source of federal funds in their professional lives. The law is most frequently used to prevent deputy sheriffs from running against their bosses.

As presently enforced, the law works as an incumbent protection program. In her article in yesterday's New York Times, "A Law Misused for Political Ends," Lerner makes clear what is wrong and how to fix it. There is even bipartisan support in both houses. But Congress is paralyzed.


If you agree, write your representative (Walter B. Jones) and both US senators and ask them to get off the dime.