Hatch Act: Options for Reform
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HATCH ACT: OPTIONS FOR REFORM HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL WORKFORCE, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE AND LABOR POLICY OF THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 16, 2012 Serial No. 112–155 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov http://www.house.gov/reform U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75–112 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 15:36 Jul 26, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\75112.TXT APRIL COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM DARRELL E. ISSA, California, Chairman DAN BURTON, Indiana ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland, Ranking JOHN L. MICA, Florida Minority Member TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JIM JORDAN, Ohio Columbia JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah DENNIS J. KUCINICH, Ohio CONNIE MACK, Florida JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts TIM WALBERG, Michigan WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts JUSTIN AMASH, Michigan JIM COOPER, Tennessee ANN MARIE BUERKLE, New York GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia PAUL A. GOSAR, Arizona MIKE QUIGLEY, Illinois RAU´ L R. LABRADOR, Idaho DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania BRUCE L. BRALEY, Iowa SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee PETER WELCH, Vermont JOE WALSH, Illinois JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky TREY GOWDY, South Carolina CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut DENNIS A. ROSS, Florida JACKIE SPEIER, California FRANK C. GUINTA, New Hampshire BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas MIKE KELLY, Pennsylvania LAWRENCE J. BRADY, Staff Director JOHN D. CUADERES, Deputy Staff Director ROBERT BORDEN, General Counsel LINDA A. GOOD, Chief Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL WORKFORCE, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE AND LABOR POLICY DENNIS A. ROSS, Florida, Chairman JUSTIN AMASH, Michigan, Vice Chairman STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts, JIM JORDAN, Ohio Ranking Minority Member JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of CONNIE MACK, Florida Columbia TIM WALBERG, Michigan GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia TREY GOWDY, South Carolina DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 15:36 Jul 26, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75112.TXT APRIL C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on May 16, 2012 ............................................................................... 1 WITNESSES The Honorable Carolyn N. Lerner, Special Counsel, U.S. Office of Special Counsel Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 6 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 9 The Honorable Irvin B. Nathan, Attorney General, District of Columbia Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 16 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 18 The Honorable Jon J. Greiner, Former Utah State Senator Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 25 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 27 Mr. Scott A. Coffina, Partner, Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 30 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 33 Mr. Jon Adler, National President, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Asso- ciation Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 41 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 42 APPENDIX The Honorable Dennis Ross, a Member of Congress from the State of Florida, written statement ................................................................................................. 57 Testimony for the record submitted by The Federal Managers Association ...... 58 The National Law Journal: Amending the Hatch Act by Scott A. Coffina ......... 60 Letter from The National Sheriffs’ Office .............................................................. 63 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 15:36 Jul 26, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75112.TXT APRIL VerDate Aug 31 2005 15:36 Jul 26, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\75112.TXT APRIL HATCH ACT: OPTIONS FOR REFORM Wednesday, May 16, 2012, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, SUBCOMMITTEE ON FEDERAL WORKFORCE, U.S. POSTAL SERVICE AND LABOR POLICY, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. in room 2247, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Dennis Ross [chairman of the subcommittee], presiding. Present: Representatives Ross, Chaffetz, Cummings, Norton, Lynch, Connolly, Gowdy and Davis. Staff Present: Ali Ahmad, Majority Communications Advisor; Adam P. Fromm, Majority Director of Member Services and Com- mittee Operations; Jennifer Hemingway; Majority Senior Profes- sional Staff Member; Ashok M. Pinto; Majority Deputy Chief Coun- sel, Investigations; James Robertson, Majority Professional Staff Member; Cheyenne Steel, Majority Press Assistant; Peter Warren, Majority Legislative Policy Director; John A. Zadrozny, Majority Counsel; Krista Boyd, Minority Deputy Director of Legislation/ Counsel; Ashley Etienne, Minority Director of Communications; Su- sanne Sachsman Grooms, Minority Chief Counsel; Devon Hill, Mi- nority Staff Assistant; William Miles, Minority Professional Staff Member; Dave Rapallo, Minority Staff Director; and Safiya Sim- mons, Minority Press Secretary. Mr. ROSS. Good morning. I will now call the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy to order. Today’s hearing is on the ‘‘Hatch Act: Options for Reform.’’ As we do in all our Oversight subcommittee and full committee hearings, I will state the Oversight Committee Mission Statement. We exist to secure two fundamental principles. First, Americans have the right to know that the money Washington takes from them is well spent. Second, Americans deserve an efficient and ef- fective government that works for them. Our duty on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee is to protect these rights. Our solemn responsibility is to hold gov- ernment accountable to taxpayers because taxpayers have a right to know what they are getting from the government. We will work tirelessly in partnership with citizen watchdogs to deliver the facts to the American people and bring genuine reform to the Federal bureaucracy. This is the mission of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 15:36 Jul 26, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\75112.TXT APRIL 2 During my brief tenure as a member of Congress, I have seen how well intentioned legislation can have unintended consequences when applied to the real world. This is certainly true with respect to the Hatch Act. Originally enacted in 1939, the Hatch Act was needed to prevent an all too prevalent practice of Federal employ- ees engaging in partisan, political activity using Federal resources. The Hatch Act was last amended in 1993, a year in which em- ployees were becoming accustomed to email for workplace commu- nication and using other forms of electronic communication to share information with their colleagues. Technology’s advance is only speeding up and the Hatch Act is in need of update. Today’s hearing builds on the committee’s June 2011 hearing at which a bipartisan panel expressed support for making major changes in the Hatch Act statute. Furthermore, several bills have been introduced to repeal the Hatch Act’s overreaching and arbi- trary restrictions on State and local government workers who seek to run for office. In short, there is a growing consensus that we should enact com- prehensive Hatch Act reform. The Federal Government should not be in the business of making personnel policy for State and local government employees and the Office of Special Counsel should not be dedicating as much of its resources as it now does in pursuing complaints concerning State and local elections. Rather, the Office of Special Counsel should be focused on crack- ing down on Federal workers who abuse the public trust and on protecting those Federal workers who are unfairly targeted by their managers for blowing the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse. In- stead, we should craft legislation that preserves the intent of the Hatch Act and reflects the realities of today’s workplace. Com- prehensive reform should, for example, adopt a definition of Fed- eral workplace that accounts for how Federal employees commu- nicate today, which is oftentimes out of the office, on the go, with personal electronic devices. I think we can all agree that our Nation’s public servants should be prohibited from engaging in partisan, political