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The Office of Special Counsel filed a Hatch Act complaint against a Small Business Administration worker for engaging in political activity while at work and for holding political office.

According to the OSC, Jeffrey Eisinger, a lawyer with the SBA offices in Fresno, Calif., district office, used his agency's office equipment to receive and send more than 100 e-mails, draft documents and make calls to support his political party and its candidates between the fall of 2001 and September 2004.

OSC's complaint - filed with the Merit Systems Protection Board on Jan. 13, 2005, - states that Eisinger knew the prohibitions on political activity while at a government job, but remained a state party committee member and an elected county council member.

A member of the Green Party, Eisinger told Government Executive that he is a victim of Special Counsel Scott Bloch's "arbitrary and capricious behavior," and said he has an adequate defense for OSC's complaint. Eisinger plans to file his own lawsuit against OSC.

Eisinger said he does not see how his state Green Party membership or his county council election is relevant to the complaint, and stated that the legal action is an example of OSC's grandstanding and not sticking to the facts in prosecuting the allegation.

"The OSC apparently got the referral from my agency back in the summer of 2002. They did nothing for well over two years and now want to reap the benefit of their inaction for publicity purposes," Eisinger said.

Eisinger said he was given the impression by the SBA that a certain level of political activity would be tolerated after his supervisor made several comments about which candidate a person should vote for, saying that candidate would best protect federal workers' interests. Eisinger also said a colleague, who was a manager at the time, displayed partisanship while at the workplace.

SBA public information specialist Melende Ward said that she was unaware of the circumstances.

In a related matter, OSC announced the settlement of two separate Hatch Act complaints involving a Justice Department lawyer and District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams' former chief of staff.

Kelvin Robinson, who served as Williams' chief of staff from August 2001 to August 2004, voluntarily resigned on July 7, 2004, after he asked D.C. employees to volunteer to work on the mayor's reelection campaign at a rally on Aug. 8, 2002. According to OSC, many of the employees Robinson asked to serve were his subordinates.

The OSC complaint, filed July 9, 2004, with the MSPB, also charged that Robinson solicited campaign contributions from workers by asking them to buy tickets to a D.C. Democratic State Committee Kennedy-King dinner in May 2002.

In the settlement, Robinson agreed to not work for the district for two years and OSC dropped the complaint.

Williams' spokeswomen, Sharon Gang, said the mayor is pleased with the resolution and still considers Robinson a friend and a trusted adviser.

The Justice Department worker, a lawyer in the Civil Division who went unnamed as part of the settlement agreement, also voluntarily settled with OSC and received a short suspension. In addition, Justice agreed to provide Hatch Act training to employees in the Civil Division.

The lawyer admitted to co-hosting a political fundraiser that seven people attended. According to OSC, the worker self-reported the offense and denies willfully violating the Hatch Act.

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