Contractors and Dogs Keep Off the Grass
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James Joyner | Wednesday, June 16, 2004 |
One of my readers e-mailed me the donation site of Stan Matsunaka, a Democrat running to unseat Rep. Carol Musgrave, sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. Of particular interest was this last item on the form:
I am not a federal government contractor.
As the e-mailer notes, “So, he rejects the janitor cleaning the local federal courthouse?”
I’m aware that the Hatch Act restricts political activities of federal employees, but they’re allowed to make political contributions. Presumably, Matsunaka is trying to avoid some sort of conflict of interest here, but I’m not sure why federal contractors are different from any other interest group. Certainly, “federal contractor” is a rather wide category. (Full disclosure: I’m a federal contractor twice over, both in my “day job” and a part-time gig as Managing Editor of the Naval Postgraduate School’s e-journal Strategic Insights.)
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Believe it or not it is also on Kerry's site. I don't think it means what it appears to mean: they are worried about those who can influence the various contracts rather then the rank and file.
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