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U.S. Office of Special Counsel
1730 M Street, N.W., Suite 218
Washington, D.C. 20036-4505
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U.S. OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL REACHES DISCIPLINARY ACTION SETTLEMENT
AGREEMENT IN
HATCH ACT CASE AGAINST NEW YORK STATE EMPLOYEE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 12/13/04
CONTACT: CATHY DEEDS, 202-254-3600
cdeeds@osc.gov
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has reached a
voluntary settlement agreement with Bonnie Cannan, an employee in the
Medicaid Waiver Service Office of the Finger Lakes Developmental
Disabilities Service Office (FLDDSO) in Rochester, New York, who allegedly
violated the Hatch Act. OSC filed a complaint for disciplinary action
against Ms. Cannan with the Merit Systems Protection Board on July 13, 2004.
As a result of the settlement agreement, OSC has dismissed its complaint
against Ms. Cannan.
Ms. Cannan was charged in OSC’s complaint with violating the Hatch Act on
two occasions – once, when she ran as the Green Party’s candidate in the
2001 partisan election for Rochester City Council, and again, when she ran
as the Green Party’s candidate in the 2002 partisan election for New York
State Senate, District 56.
As part of the settlement agreement, Ms. Cannan admitted that she is covered
by the Hatch Act and that she violated the Act in 2001 and 2002 by her
candidacies in partisan elections. As a penalty for her violations of the
Act, Cannan agreed that she would resign from FLDDSO effective January 7,
2005, and would not seek or accept employment with the State of New York for
18 months.
The Hatch Act strictly prohibits state and local employees who have job
duties in connection with federally funded programs from being candidates in
partisan elections. The penalty for a proven violation of the Act is removal
of the employee from his/her position by the state/local agency and
debarment from state/local employment for the following 18 months, or
forfeiture of federal grant funds by the state/local agency in an amount
equal to two years of the employee’s salary.
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The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is an independent investigative
and prosecutorial agency and operates as a secure channel for disclosures of
whistleblower complaints and abuse of authority. Its primary mission is to
safeguard the merit system in Federal employment by protecting Federal
employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially
retaliation for whistleblowing. OSC also has jurisdiction over the Hatch Act
and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. For more
information please visit our web site at
www.osc.gov or call 1-800-872-9855.
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