Contractors and Dogs Keep Off the Grass

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.)

FILED UNDER: 2004 Election, ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Jim says:

    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.