SYRENE KOON
A federal act forced a candidate running for the state Senate in District 17 to quit his job just days before last week’s election in order to be eligible to run.
Republican Robert Muhlestein, who is a graduate of BYU, defeated democratic incumbent Eldon Money by 142 votes four days after resigning as a case worker in the Office of Family Support, a division of the Utah Department of Human Services.
The Hatch Act prohibits candidates from running for office while holding a federally-funded position as primary employment, said Randy Riplinger, spokesman for the Department of Human Services.
“When I filed to run for office, I asked my supervisors if there would be a problem,” Muhlestein said.
“There were questions about which organizations funded my position, but according to the assistant regional director of the Office of Family Support, everything was all right.” Muhlestein’s primary employment is managing real estate in Mapleton, and he felt that his job as a caseworker would not be in jeopardy.
Then Muhlestein received a letter on Nov. 1 informing him of his options if he continued running for office.
Muhlestein received the letter from the deputy director of Human Services informing him that his position was federally-funded, and that under the Hatch Act, the agency could fire him, or he could lose two years of salary.
After receiving the letter, Muhlestein chose to resign to avoid potential conflict.
“I was planning on quitting anyway, and I didn’t want my integrity to be questioned,” Muhlestein said. “It would be nice to have the extra money, but it was time to go on to other things.”
Muhlestein was surprised that he won the election.
“I was running against a well-respected incumbent. I felt honored and humbled to win such an upset victory,” Muhlestein said. “No one ran against Money in 1992, and I wanted to give people a choice.”
