October 15, 2008
Should government workers wear campaign buttons on the job?
The American Federation of Teachers, which has endorsed Barack Obama filed a federal lawsuit Friday, seeking to overturn a ban on teachers wearing campaign buttons at public schools.
Meanwhile, motor vehicle clerks, state troopers and other state government employees will not be sporting Obama or McCain buttons, because state policy prohibits them from conducting "campaign activities on state time," although an August memo does not specifically address campaign buttons.
In New York City, the teachers union argues its members have a First Amendment right to wear campaign buttons at public schools. Union President Randi Weingarten said, "Students can only benefit from being exposed to and engaged in a dialogue about current events."
The Times reports:
The conflict over political buttons appears to have begun with a Sept. 23 e-mail message Ms. Weingarten sent to union leaders at each city school, advising them how to distribute campaign materials on Mr. Obama's behalf. Education Department officials soon contacted the union, stating that the chancellor's regulation prohibited such activity....
Ann Forte, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, said that courts have ruled that teachers do not have an "unfettered right to express their personal views at school."
"We don't want a school or school staff advocating for any political position or candidate to students, and we don't want students feeling intimidated because they might hold a different belief or support a different candidate than their teachers," Ms. Forte said in a statement.
In a related development, school officials Tuesday ordered an Obama poster to be removed from the entrance of a middle school in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
The state policy on political activity during the workday is outlined in an August 25 memo sent to all agency heads by Gary Johnson, director of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations. The three-page memo states: While employees are not discouraged from participating in the political campaign
process, they must keep their political campaign activities separate from the discharge of their duties as state employees. For the purposes of these guidelines, "political campaign activities" include any act, activity, or event designed to communicate a political endorsement, urge voters to vote for a particular candidate, support a political party, or raise funds for a political candidate or party.
Political campaign activities--such as campaigning, coordinating volunteers, and
soliciting or receiving campaign contributions--are not within the scope of the official duties of executive branch employees and they may not conduct campaign activities on state time. Performing political campaign activities on state time may subject employees to criminal prosecution and the loss of employment.
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