DFO’s Archives: Rankin & Hatch Act

From DFO’s files (April 24, 1992: 25 years ago):

A state Senate candidate wonders why the federal law doesn’t apply to congressional aides after he was forced this week to quit his seasonal U.S. Forest Service job.

Ron Rankin took aim at Boise Mayor Dick Kempthorne’s campaign for the U.S. Senate after the Forest Service nursery (in Coeur d’Alene) forced him to quit his part-time labor job as a result of his independent candidacy for the District 4 Senate seat.

Rankin contended that Phil Reberger shouldn’t be allowed to manage Kempthorne’s campaign and serve at the same time as chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Steve Symms, R-Idaho.

The Hatch Act restricts partisan political activities on the part of federal employees.

“The Hatch Act is a good act,” Rankin said. “But it should apply to everyone. Here, we have a federal employee (Reberger) involved in a partisan election. It seems the imperial Congress has a way of exempting itself from the laws it passes.”