Expanding the opportunity for partisan activity among government employees: potential effects on federal executives’ political involvement

Abstract

Almost half the respondents to a 1990 survey of federal Senior Executive Service personnel said their political activity would increase if Hatch Act constraints on partisan political involvement were removed. More than one-third predicted that if the law permitted, they would distribute partisan campaign literature, organize political meetings, and publicly endorse candidates—activities the Hatch Act now prohibits. Scaling techniques reveal respondents’ present political activity level is 2.58 (on a 1-10 scale), increasing to an estimated 4.07 with Hatch Act liberalization. The potential for expanded political activity is dispersed widely through the SES, but it appears greatest among females, non-whites, youths, newcomers, those with less than a doctorate degree, non-career executives, and respondents supervised by political executives. These findings do not measure the effect of a weakened Hatch Act on the character of the public service. However, if respondents act on their predilections and expand the...