US Office of Special Counsel Claims Ben Bartlett Resigned Due to Hatch Act Violation
A subscriber has informed me that the US Office of Special Counsel has released a statement about a Hatch Act violation by an unnamed NH State Representative who was an employee of the Veterans Administration. As only one NH State Representative has been recently accused of violating the Hatch Act because they ran for partisan office while being an employee of the Veterans Administration, the unnamed violator is presumably Republican Benjamin Bartlett, the representative for Nottingham and Northwood who resigned his seat in April. The seat he narrowly won in 2022 is now held by Democrat Hal Rafter who won the seat in a September 2023 special election with a 55.89% majority.
When Bartlett resigned his seat, he cited health reasons for missing 134 out of 135 roll-call votes, of which 131 were excused for health reasons. The OSC’s statement contradicts Bartlett’s claim, saying “In response to OSC's enforcement efforts, the VA employee, who had won the race, stepped down from the elected office.”
The OSC’s statement goes on to say:
“The VA employee ran in the partisan election for New Hampshire State Representative and on two occasions knowingly accepted political contributions.”
“The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from being candidates for public office in partisan elections and from knowingly soliciting, accepting, or receiving political contributions.”
“...the employee admitted to violating the Hatch Act and agreed to a 15-day suspension without pay as a penalty for his violations.”
The Declaration of Candidacy for NH State Representative includes a notarized affidavit in which the candidate swears that they are not a federal employee.
Ben Bartlett is currently a Selectman in Nottingham. This is a non-partisan position, and as such is not subject to the Hatch Act, which applies only to partisan positions.
