Who would ever imagine that a Libertarian Party endorsement would result in a massive political brouhaha, here in Orange County?
When John Alpay, a candidate for the San Juan Capistrano City Council, secured the endorsement of the Libertarian Party of Orange County his opponent, Howard Hart, flipped out – and it turns out he had a good reason to do so.
Hart you see works for the Federal Government, in the Department of Homeland Security. There is a law called the Hatch Act that prevents Federal employees from getting involved in partisan politics. While the San Juan Capistrano City Council race is a non-partisan one, the Libertarian Party endorsement threatened to make it a partisan affair.
So Hart’s campaign whined to the California Libertarian Party Chair about the endorsement – but the very act of contacting the party was in fact a Hatch Act violation.
Hart has in fact suspended his City Council campaign, while the Feds figure out if he did in fact violate the Hatch Act, but Hart is still on the ballot.
Alpay has also alleged Hart has violated City Council Policy 011, approved in 1993, which covers a code of ethics for city council members and appointed officials, and further called for Hart to step down from his position on the city’s planning commission—to which he was appointed to in 2019, according to the Capistrano Dispatch.
You can read Alpay’s letter to Hart, outlining his Hatch Act violations, here.
Click here to read Alpay’s letter to the Feds.
As one might expect Hart’s cronies on the San Juan Capistrano City Council have all endorsed Hart. They likely fear Alpay because he won’t go along with them as they continue to waste taxpayer money. The City Council has used up reserves that were at $1.75 million in 2019-20, and are now expected to be $149,000 for 2020-21, according to the Capistrano Dispatch.
You can check out Alpay’s candidate statement here.