U.S. Office of Special Counsel  1730 M Street, N.W., Suite 218  Washington, D.C. 20036-4505

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.

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.