Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Hatch Act and the Montco DA's Office Once Again

I wrote about the Hatch Act and the Montgomery County District Attorney's office in July, 2008, and in August, 2007.

Questions have come up again. See "Fox Investigates: Hatch Act Controversy." I think someone needs to sit down and write out a clear statement on how the Hatch Act applies to county district attorneys and assistant district attorneys in the state with some guidelines on who can and can't run for office while staying on the payroll.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why hasn't the Democratic Party fielded a candidate against Risa Vetri-Ferman? She clearly has broken the law. It just doesn't make any sense. And what does Peter Amuso, her 2007 opponent, have to say about this?

stevebidding said...

Shouldn't the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania be contacted? D.A. Ferman could be suspended or disbarred for this. Seriously. Probably why she hasn't said a word about this since the story aired.

Anonymous said...

Amuso described Ferman, who was the first assistant district attorney when the pair clashed for the then open seat, as "formidable" at that time.

"I was wondering afterward, as a lawyer just starting my own practice after the election, how I and my clients would be treated since going head to head with her," said Amuso. "I have been treated with nothing but fairness by her and her staff and that is the reputation she has. That will make her even more formidable this time around."

AboveAvgJane said...

The third comment, directly above this one, came in around noon. It is just now getting posted because it contains a quote from a named person but no citation is given. I didn't want to post the comment without verifying the quote, and it has taken some hours to find the time to hunt it down (note: it would have been much easier if the commenter had cited his or her sources).

The quote is from "Dem may not run for Montco DA," by Margaret Gibbons, January 27, 2011, Philly Burbs.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/the_intelligencer_news/article_34b22a16-fb46-598b-aca0-af13abe647b5.html