The Dope on Lobbying Restrictions
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, November 21, 2007 | 10:14 AM
By Tom Shoop | Wednesday, November 21, 2007 | 10:14 AM
Carol Brown has a problem.
She's a member of the Hailey, Idaho, city council. And that body just passed a series of measures to water down its laws against marijuana use. The Idaho Mountain Express reports that the measures also require city officials to lobby for reform of marijuana laws statewide. That presents a problem for Brown, because she is a federal employee, and as such, can't do such lobbying under federal ethics laws.
"Council member Brown will have to recuse herself from any discussion of these laws in order to retain her federal position," city officials noted in a press release. "Stated differently, council member Brown may have to resign from the Hailey City Council."
Comments
that would depend on the definition of lobbying and how she voiced her opinion.
anonamous | Sunday, February 17, 2008 | 08:57 AMAs a former mayor while a federal employee I found your comments quite interesting. I just checked with the Office of Special Counsel and there is no prohibition of federal employees expressing their political interests as long as it does not advance a partisan candidate or party. I have and will continue to contact members of congress on those issues that I believe in. And yes, you can solicit and raise funds as a federal employee for an election provided that it is for a non-partisan race as many (I believe most) mayors, councilmembers, and school board members are.
Woody Thomas | Monday, November 26, 2007 | 10:09 AM1. Federal employees are NOT flatly prohibited from HOLDING public office; they are only prohibited from running as a candidate in a partisan election under the "Hatch Act." If the office is non-partisan (no candidate has a party affiliation of a political party whose candidate for President received electoral votes in the last election), then she can even run for re-election. As long as there is no "conflict of interest" with her federal job (which depends on the duties of her employment and outside position), she can hold the outside public office.
2. There is no general restriction on federal employees engaging in 1st Amendment protected advocacy or "lobbying" actvities on their own, free time, without using federal resources or official time. There is no "ethics" violation for being an involved citizen.
Fed employees can hold political office under certain circumstances: it has to be non-partisan, have no conflict of interest with their Federal job, and the employee must abide by the Hatch Act.
Anonymous' understanding is not surprising; most Federal employees do not actually know the parameters and limits of their jobs but rather only what they've been told by others.
We, the People | Monday, November 26, 2007 | 07:47 AMFederal employees cannot hold partisan political office; the Hatch Act does not prohibit holding nonpartisan office. I assume the city council position is not a partisan political position.
wallyp | Monday, November 26, 2007 | 07:37 AMI did'nt think Federal employees could hold political office in the first place.
Anonymous | Wednesday, November 21, 2007 | 01:51 PMNot a problem...
All she needs to do is to recuse herself from the lobbying effort.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Government Executive Editor Tom Shoop takes a look at news and events affecting the federal bureaucracy, from the perspective of a longtime observer of government.
feedARCHIVES
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
CATEGORIES
- Budget
- Comings and Goings
- Congress
- Defense
- Factoid of the Day
- Fedblog
- General News
- Government Operations
- Headline of the Day
- Homeland Security
- Intelligence
- Management
- Oversight
- Pay and Benefits
- Photo of the Day
- Political Appointees
- Press Release of the Day
- Procurement
- Quote of the Day
- The White House
- The Workforce
- The Workplace