The Hatch Act Of 1939 Essays - 76th United States Congress

The Hatch Act Of 1939 The Hatch Act of 1939 Under Hatch Act of 1939, federal employees, employees of the District of Columbia (D.C.) government, and certain state and local government employees faced significant restrictions on their ability to participate in political activities and placing ceilings on campaign expenditures. The act is named for its author, Senator Carl Atwood Hatch (1889-1963) of New Mexico. (There was an earlier Hatch Act (1887), named for Representative William Henry Hatch (1833-96) of Missouri, concerned the study of scientific agriculture.) The Hatch Act of 1939 passed following several big corruption cases involving the burgeoning post-New Deal bureaucracy, and was aimed at the civil service. But by its terms, it applies to almost anyone on the U.S. government payroll. Only the president, vice president, and appointees requiring Senate confirmation (such as Cabinet secretaries) are exempt. The original Hatch Act forbade government employees to raise funds, give partisan public speeches, or volunteer for any candidate or party. Among its provisions, the Hatch Act prohibited such practices as threatening, intimidating, or coercing voters in national elections; made it illegal for administrators in U.S. civil service to interfere with the nomination and election of candidates to federal office; proscribed the practices of promising and withholding certain kinds of employment and unemployment relief as a reward or punishment for political activity; and prohibited the solicitation of political contributions from relief recipients. Enforcement of the Hatch Act was always erratic, and there was no serious attempt to apply its general ban on politicking to the White House. The Hatch Act was amended in 1940 to put a $5000 ceiling on annual individual contributions to campaigns for any one candidate for election to federal office and to limit the contributions received and expended by political committees to $3 million a year. The purchase of goods or advertising, the proceeds of which would benefit candidates for election to federal office, was prohibited. All provisions of the act relating to federal employees were extended to state employees engaged in any function financed by federal funds. Later statutes, especially those of the 1970s, dealt with the use and limitation of campaign contributions. In 1993, with President Clintons backing, the Hatch Act was amended to allow all these things, so long as they are done outside the workplace and government employees dont exploit their positions for political purposes. The Hatch Act reform permitted more political activity by federal and D.C. government employees andliberalized restrictions on partisan political activities by off-duty federal employees. Further, by Department of Defense (DOD) policy, Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate and non-career SES members may not engage in actions that could be interpreted as associating the DOD with any partisan political cause or issue. (These amendments did not change the provisions applying to state and local employees.) With the 1993 amendments, many federal employees (including Army civilian employees) are now permitted to take an active part in political management or in political campaigns. However, certain federal agrncies and categories of employees continue to be subject to important restrictions on political activities (including partisan candidacy, solicitation of contributions, and on-duty political activity). The amendment specifically allows employees of the Executive Office of the president to engage in political activity. The law defines political activity to include anything campaign-related--organizing events, planning party strategy--except fund raising, which it completely prohibits. These same limits apply to Cabinet secretaries and all other presidential appointees approved by the Senate. The president's campaign or party must reimburse the government for the use of its offices and resources. The Clinton administration imposed additional Hatch-like regulations on itself. White House employees can work on their political projects only if they put in 40 hours' work over the course of the week on official business. And the White House installed separate phone and fax lines for political work. But these rules are not legally binding. And in practice, such distinctions between official and political White House work are almost meaningless. The following is a list of what federal employees can and cannot do under the amended Hatch Act. ALLOWABLE Be a candidate for public office in nonpartisan elections Register and vote as you choose Assist in voter registration drives Express opinions about candidates