Sviggum’s run for governor encounters “a curveball out of left field”

Mike Longaecker of the Forum newspaper group reports (reg. req.) that Steve Sviggum, the commissioner of the Pawlenty administration’s Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), has been forced to put his pending campaign for the governor’s office on hold owing to some fairly obscure provisions of the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from running for office.

Longaecker writes:

The Department of Labor and Industry commissioner’s oversight of OSHA may qualify him as a federal employee — a group forbidden to run for public office.

"This was a curveball out of left field," the former House speaker and Kenyon Republican said Thursday. "I’m kind of suspended right now."

While organizing his campaign, Sviggum was informed that his OSHA association might constitute federal employment, he told the Republican Eagle Thursday…. He would not say whether the predicament might cause him to leave his post in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s cabinet.

The story goes on to say that Sviggum has sought an advisory opinion on the matter. Practically speaking, this may lead to an earlier-than-expected resignation of Sviggum’s DLI post.

Mike Dougherty points out via Twitter that Heather Carlson of the Rochester Post-Bulleting has a story on the subject as well.