GUILDERLAND — Democratic Councilwoman Patricia Slavick, who is running for re-election in November, says she has chosen politics over her career.

Slavick quit her job with the state’s Office of Mental Health three weeks ago, after she was told she violated the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act is a law that prohibits federal and certain state workers from running for an elected office.

The Hatch Act applies to executive-branch state and local employees who principally work in connection with programs financed by loans or grants made by the United States or a federal agency.
Slavick’s Republican challenger, Mike Donegan, says that leaving her job isn’t good enough. She "got caught with her hand in the cookie jar," Donegan told The Enterprise, and she should drop out of the election.

Slavick and Democratic Chairman David Bosworth, who is also on the all-Democrat town board, insist that Slavick did nothing wrong. She did all she could to get permission from her employer to run for town board, they said. When she was told there was a conflict of interest, she quit, they said.

Candidate’s confusion

For the past 15 months, Slavick had worked as an accountant for the state’s Office of Mental Health. She said that she was told a few weeks ago that, since her salary comes from the federal government, she is in violation of the Hatch Act.

If a person’s salary is financed from the government or if the main duties of her job are connected to a federally-funded program, she cannot run for public office in a partisan election, according to the Hatch Act.

Slavick wasn’t told until last month, two weeks before the Democratic party had its nominating caucus, that her running for town board violated the act, she said.

The town’s Democratic committee selects its preferred candidates in June, but doesn’t hold its caucus until just before the primary.
"I did everything I needed to do to inform the agency I was running," Slavick said. In January of this year, she said, she told her employer that she wanted to run again for town board.

She also asked about it when she was interviewed for the job, in May of 2004, she said.
"They should have told me then," she said.

It wasn’t until the end of last month, Slavick said, that, since she holds public office, her job violated the Hatch Act.
"Her supervisor said, ‘Leave or withdraw from the race,’" Bosworth reported. "No formal action was taken; this was just a conversation. They said it’s a possible conflict of interest and, if she violates the act, she’d be reported to the Office of Special Counsel," he said, referring to a federal agency.
"But I did my due diligence," Slavick said. "It was a very hard decision. I felt I did everything in my power to inform them I was running...I’m the type of person that dots my i’s and crosses my t’s. I did that over a year ago."
"Pat wrote five memorandums to her ethics board," Bosworth said. "Everybody thought she was on pretty solid ground."

Casey Cannistraci, a spokesperson for the Office of Mental Health, told The Enterprise that she can’t comment on Slavick because of privacy laws.

The agency notifies all of its employees about the Hatch Act each year before election time, Cannistraci said. Any problems or concerns are referred to the Office of Special Counsel, she said.
The decision to leave her job, Slavick went on, was "very painful."
"It’s very painful," Bosworth said. "Pat’s without employment. She has a young son in college....It’s very curious that this happened to her two weeks before the caucus."

Slavick said that, until this May, she could have gone back to her former accounting job. But, after being gone for more than 12 months, it was too late.

"Lack of integrity""

Slavick’s conflict was called to the attention of her employer after someone complained that she might be violating the Hatch Act, she said.

A few weeks ago, Tony Cortes, Guilderland’s GOP chair, told The Enterprise that he was investigating whether Slavick violated the Hatch Act. He had read about her job in a short profile that The Enterprise ran on Slavick in May.

This week, Donegan said that the leaders of the town’s Republican party complained to the Office of Mental Health.

Donegan works as an attorney for the state’s Commission of Corrections. When deciding to run for town board, Donegan inquired about the Hatch Act and was told he was not in violation. This is because his salary is not federally-funded, he said.
"As a fellow state employee, we’re all very well-versed in the Hatch Act and its ramifications," Donegan said. He went on of Slavick, "She should have stepped down when she found out she was Hatched."

Early in 2003, Republican Brian Hartson announced he was running for town board. That July, however, he dropped out of the race after he was found ineligible to run because of the Hatch Act; Hartson is a labor service representative for the state’s Division of Research and Statistics. The Republicans found no candidate to replace Hartson that year.
Slavick should have shown the integrity that Hartson did, Donegan said this week. She violated the Hatch Act for a long time and she "violated the spirit of the letter of the law," he said.

Donegan wrote a letter to the Enterprise editor this week, complaining about the way he felt the Democrats on the town board, particularly Slavick and Bosworth, abused the Open Meetings Law at a budget workshop. (See related story.)
"If my party leaders hadn’t complained, she’d likely still be violating the Hatch Act," Donegan said. "For her to ask forgiveness rather than permission shows a lack of integrity and a cavalier attitude toward the Hatch Act."

The decision to choose the town board over her career was difficult, Slavick said. She told The Enterprise that, on Sept. 8, she left her job and she is currently looking for other work.

Bosworth was angry that the Republicans complained to Slavick’s employer.
"We found out two weeks before the nominating caucus," he said.
"I decided I like the town board and serving the residents of Guilderland," Slavick said. "I’m here to serve the town."
"The voters themselves should decide what’s right and wrong here," Donegan concluded. "But she should step down from the election to remove any cloud of impropriety."