Politics & Government

Should D.C. Government Lawyers be Able to Run for AG?

Current law does not allow lawyers working for the District government to run for Attorney General.

Lawyers working for the District government should be able to run to be D.C.'s top local lawyer, sitting D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan told a District Council committee Monday.

The position, which Nathan was appointed to in 2010, recently changed from an appointed to an elected position after local residents voted overwhelmingly for the charter amendment in November of 2010.

The first election is scheduled for April 2014, though that date may change.

According to press release, Nathan testified before the Committee on Government Operations about needing to change the law:

"It is an 'unintended consequence' of current law that some potential candidates 'with the most relevant experience and perspectives' to be D.C. Attorney General are barred from running for the office unless they resign from their D.C. employment, Nathan said. Because the primary election is scheduled for next April, the Council 'should amend the law as quickly as possible,' he said."

Until the  January when the Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012 went into effect, employees of the District government were restricted in their political activities by the Hatch Act, which applies to federal government employees. 

The law as written would require attorneys working for the D.C. government to quit their positions to run for office. 

Nathan argued that those employees in many cases would be the most qualified to run and the most likely to run, since many private sector attorneys would shy away from the less lucrative government position.

“For the benefit of all of our citizens, we should insure the widest possible pool for this important and demanding position,” Nathan testified. 


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