FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 9/17/04 WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Office
of Special Counsel (OSC) has filed a complaint for disciplinary action
against Felicta Cox, a state employee with the Vineland Developmental
Center, in Vineland, N.J. The OSC’s complaint, filed September 15, 2004 with
the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), charges Ms. Cox with violating
the Hatch Act’s prohibition against being a candidate for elective office in
a partisan election. The complaint further alleges that
on December 19, 2003, a letter to the editor was published in the Bridgeton
News (N.J.) in which Ms. Cox wrote: “I know all about the Hatch Act. … I
don’t give a damn about the Hatch Act and I will be running for freeholder
in the upcoming election. … I’m here to tell you to bring it on, because you
or the Hatch Act are not going to stop me from running for freeholder,
because when it comes to me doing something I want to do, the hell with that
state job and the Hatch Act.” 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. |