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Candidate Quits Job To Avoid Conflicts
Anne Arundel Man Leaving MARC

By Daniel De Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 17, 2005; B06

Phil Bissett, a Republican candidate for Anne Arundel county executive, said yesterday that he had resigned from his job at the Maryland Transit Administration to avoid violating regulations against politics in the federal workplace.

Bissett, director of the federally subsidized MARC commuter rail and bus division, has known since May 3 that his candidacy put him in violation of the federal Hatch Act, according to documents released yesterday by his campaign.

When word leaked May 4 of the potential conflict, his campaign acknowledged it had received an advisory from the agency that enforces the Hatch Act but declined to reveal what it said. Bissett said then that he would make a conclusive announcement yesterday. He had until today to make a decision or face disciplinary action.

Speaking yesterday at an Annapolis news conference, Bissett said he had needed the time to sort out the legal issues and decide what to do.

"I now renew my efforts and redirect all my energies toward becoming the next Anne Arundel county executive," he said.

Bissett's resignation becomes effective today.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from seeking partisan office. It also applies to many state and local workers who deal with federally funded programs. MARC receives about $30 million a year in federal funding, mostly for capital improvements and spare parts, according to documents released by the campaign.

"We understand . . . that you have substantial control over directing the flow of federal funding to capital projects, determining which projects are to be completed, and prioritizing those projects," Ana Galindo-Marrone, chief of the Hatch Act unit in the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, said in a May 3 letter to Bissett, which he released yesterday. The letter "serves as notice," she wrote, "that your current candidacy for Anne Arundel County Executive is in violation of the Hatch Act."

Bissett will face state Del. John R. Leopold of Pasadena in the 2006 Republican primary. "The law required him to make a choice, and belatedly, he did," Leopold said of Bissett.

Leopold gained the support last week of Annapolis lawyer Dirk Haire, who dropped out of the Republican race, citing prohibitive costs and a reluctance to wage a negative campaign.

Sheriff George F. Johnson IV is a probable Democratic candidate.

The current county executive, Janet S. Owens, a Democrat, is prohibited by term limits from seeking a third term.

Bissett said he was surprised to learn of the Hatch Act's reach. Maryland Transportation Secretary Robert L. Flanagan contacted the Office of Special Counsel on March 23 to request an opinion on Bissett after an MTA attorney advised him of the potential problem. Bissett said he did not know how the MTA counsel learned of the issue.

His dilemma aroused interest among politicians in the state capital, where several elected officials hold full-time jobs in local government.

"It has major ramifications not only for me personally but for other public officials as well," Bissett said.

In a question-and-answer session with The Washington Post last week, Galindo-Marrone acknowledged that "there are a number of state and local employees who are covered" by the Hatch Act "and don't realize it" because of misconceptions about the federal law. Hatch Act violators must abandon either their job or their candidacy, or their employer must surrender a portion of its federal funding.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company