Early voting is underway for Nashville’s spring primary, and the race for top prosecutor is heating up.
One candidate accused the incumbent district attorney of violating state campaign law on WPLN’s This is Nashville Wednesday. Sara Beth Myers says DA Glenn Funk broke the law earlier this week, when he recruited several of his prosecutors to speak during a campaign forum about domestic violence. The DA is disputing the allegation.
The argument is over a state rule called the Little Hatch Act.
The goal of the Little Hatch Act is to prevent public officials from using taxpayer resources for elections. It bars executives like the district attorney from pressuring their employees to help them get elected. The law prohibits them from:
- Intimidating or coercing government officers or workers to interfere in an election or nomination
- Paying or getting paid for political or election expenses
- Asking for campaign contributions from people or entities that do business with the state
- Making promises of beneficial treatment in exchange for political activity
- Taking away someone’s state benefits (job, pay, contract work or loan) — or threatening to do so — because of political activity
The law also bars government workers from participating in campaign events while they’re on the clock or on state property. They’re not allowed to display campaign fliers, banners, stickers, signs or political ads on state grounds. The only exception is for decals or bumper stickers on a personal car.
Tennessee’s Little Hatch Act is modeled after the federal Hatch Act, which was passed in 1939 to prevent government employees from mixing their official duties with politics. It was named for New Mexico Sen. Carl Hatch, who sponsored the bill.
Funk denied that he violated the law. In a statement, he said that his employees were talking about their accomplishments prosecuting domestic violence cases — which he said they’re allowed to do. He added that they used personal time off to participate.
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