Opinion 88-116

October 27, 1988

Topic:          Hatch Act sanctions and limitations on party designation in an election campaign.

Digest:         Where the county receives federal funding and the Hatch Act provides that a county employee may not run for office with a party label, whether a part-time town justice may run under a non-partisan label presents a question of law .

Rule:            Federal Hatch Act

Opinion:

         A town justice, who also is a county employee in a county office which receives federal funding, asks whether the Federal Hatch Act requires such justice to run for election on a non-partisan ticket.

         The Committee is of the opinion that the issues raised here require a legal interpretation of the Federal Hatch Act and do not involve a question of ethics. Thus, we must decline to render an opinion addressed to the substance of this inquiry.

         This opinion is advisory only and does not bind either the Office of Court Administration or the Commission on Judicial Conduct.