Scott Schwebke adds the latest news update to Ogden City Chief of Police Jon Greiner's long-running Hatch Act predicament, with this morning's Standard-Examiner front page story, announcing that an administrative hearing has now been set in the matter, for June 2, 2009. With a potential $215 thousand in penalties hanging in the balance, Ogden City Attorney Gary Williams is "getting ready to rumble," too:
OGDEN — The city plans to vigorously defend itself during a hearing this summer to determine if Ogden Police Chief Jon Greiner violated the federal Hatch Act in connection with his successful bid for the state Senate in 2006.While Chief Greiner and the City administration continue to hang their hats on the defense that Greiner is insulated by city procedures from the "administration" of federal funds which would bring Greiner within operation of The Hatch Act, the Office of Special Counsel appears to be interpreting the jurisdictional language of The Act more broadly, pressing the argument that Greiner is in violation merely because he performed duties in connection with four federal grants.
“We won’t be in the back seat; we’ll be in the front seat,” City Attorney Gary Williams said Thursday.
“It’s in the city’s interest to retain Jon Greiner as police chief. The police department has had tremendous success under his leadership, and we don’t want to lose him.”
The hearing is scheduled to be conducted by Administrative Law Judge Lana Parke on June 2 at an undetermined location in Salt Lake City, officials with the federal Merit Systems Protection Board said Thursday.
It will be a relief to have a resolution to this problem, regardless of who winds up as the prevailing party. This matter, which first arose in October of 2006, has dragged on for far too long. Hopefully assigned administrative law judge Parke will issue a well-reasoned decision, founded upon sound legal analysis, adding clarity to rules which are presently "muddy" at best. Even assuming that this matter might later wind up in the appellate courts, it seems to us that this case is finally moving in the right direction.
And what say our gentle readers about all this?
