Why Trump campaign flag on Oswego sheriff’s boat violated county policy, spirit of federal law
Hatch Act #HatchAct
Oswego, NY — A President Trump campaign flag flown aboard an Oswego County Sheriff’s Office boat during a Trump campaign flotilla Sunday violated county policy and at least the spirit of a federal law designed to keep partisan politics out of the public service.
Keeping electoral campaigns out of the public workplaces is the goal behind the federal Hatch Act, which forbids using taxpayer time and money to advocate for a politician. The law specifically bans the display of “campaign materials or items” on taxpayer time or resources.
The federal law was enacted in 1939 after Democrats were accused of using employees of federal programs to do campaign work. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the law in the interest of promoting fairness and integrity of a representative democracy. Trust in government should not be eroded by the will of the party in control, the court warned.
Oswego County itself has similar rules. Just last year, county Administrator Phil Church had warned against partisan political activity in the workplace.
“No public resources (copiers, paper, paid time, vehicles, computers and e-mail, etc.) can be used to support a political candidate,’’ Church wrote in a memo sent June 20, 2019, to all county officials and employees.
Why?
“We must assure our citizens that we provide public services to them free of improper political influence, and that public funds, time and resources are not used for partisan political purposes,’’ Church wrote.
The county’s top legislator, Republican James Weatherup, agreed Monday that the Trump campaign flag should not have been flown on taxpayer time or equipment at a Trump rally.
Sheriff Don Hilton was spotted aboard the boat in pictures taken by a Syracuse.com 5/8 The Post-Standard photographer.
The sheriff has not responded to repeated requests for interviews from Syracuse.com 5/8 The Post-Standard and other media following a brief statement posted to the sheriff’s office Facebook page Monday defending flying the flag.
Hilton did appear Tuesday on the Bob Lonsberry Show on 570 WSYR radio where he said it was his decision to fly the campaign flag on the boat.
The sheriff said he would not apologize and has no regrets if people are offended.
“It is what it is,” Hilton said. “I think just at some some point we need to take a stand and stand up for the men and women of law enforcement and our president, our sitting president is about the only national politician that is doing that.”
He said he did wish the flag had not been a variation of the U.S. flag because what he called “flag purists” were offended. The flag flown had Trump’s face superimposed on the U.S. flag with a thumb’s up and the campaign slogan Making America Great Again.
The sheriff on the radio show did not address that flying the flag is a violation of county policy. He also did not address Oswego County legislature chairman’s statement that flying the flag was wrong and that the sheriff had agreed he would not fly such a flag again.
Hilton is a three-decade veteran of law enforcement, who rose through the ranks of Syracuse police to supervise dozens of detectives in the major crimes unit and taking a leadership SWAT team role. After retiring, he worked as a federal drug intelligence officer and later as a homicide investigator for the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office.
A Hastings native, Hilton assumed the role of Oswego County sheriff in 2019 after winning a GOP primary against former Undersheriff Eugene Sullivan and running unopposed in the general election. Hilton promised to reform the department and restore its reputation following the retirement of longtime Sheriff Reuel Todd.
“That department is extremely behind the time,” Hilton said of the office during his 2018 campaign. “No progressive thought has been put in that department in at least a decade … I, like much of the community, believe it is time for a change.”
Oswego County’s top legislative Democrat said he was surprised by Hilton’s lapse in judgment Sunday, saying he’d had a constructive relationship with the sheriff in the past.
“We all know he supports of the president of the United States, and that’s fine,” said Legislator Tom Drumm, of Oswego. “But to let it creep into a place where taxpayer money and taxpayer resources are used, there needs to be an acknowledgment that this is not OK.”
The Trump flag clearly violated Oswego County’s policy against flying anything but the unadorned U.S. flag on county property, Weatherup said. It also was an improper use of county time and resources, he said in a statement Monday.
Whether it directly violated the federal Hatch Act, though, is unclear. That lawapplies to local governments if federal funding could be directly tied to salaries or equipment used during the flotilla, said Peter Jeffrey, a Washington, D.C., lawyer who has worked on Hatch Act violations.
There’s a decent chance that some of the deputies’ overtime or equipment were paid for in part by federal grants — such as those aimed at combating drugs or international smuggling — but it would take a detailed look at the sheriff’s office finances to be sure, Jeffrey said.
“The sheriff’s office violated the law, if the law applies to them,” Jeffrey said.
What’s clear is that the federal government has long looked dimly upon political campaigning during the government workday. The U.S. Office of the Special Counsel enforces violations of partisan activity in federally funded workplaces.
Political advocacy for and against President Trump has been a topic of concern for the special counsel for years. In 2018, the office banned the wearing of “Make America Great Again” hats and memorabilia by federal workers on the job. Around the same time, the special counsel also banned signs advocating for Trump’s impeachment, saying that was a violation of the Hatch Act, as well.
Those restrictions only came after the president announced his campaign for re-election. During the first year or so of his presidency, MAGA hats and #ResistTrump stickers were allowed in federal workplaces, because they were not aimed at a politician actively campaigning for office.
Under law, “political activity is defined as activity directed at the success or failure of a political party, partisan political group, or candidate for partisan political office,” the special counsel noted.
That means public displays for political causes — not candidates — has always been allowed. An employee can openly support gay marriage on the job, just not a gay-friendly political candidate, for example.
Why? “The purpose of the Act is to maintain a federal workforce that is free from partisan political influence or coercion,” the Special Counsel explains in a public rule book on the prohibitions.
Good-government groups say the same rationale applies to the sheriff’s boat.
“You shouldn’t be using public resources for partisan purposes,’’ said Blair Horner, executive director of New York Public Interest Research Group.
If the sheriff’s boat had flown a neutral flag promoting, say, crime prevention, it wouldn’t pose a problem, said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York. But for a police agency to fly a flag promoting Trump – during a political rally for Trump – was unethical, Lerner said.
“This is just straight-up wrong,’’ she said. “It is an abuse of the public trust. It is a misuse of public property and public time.‘’
Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070.
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