Sviggum update: Waiting, waiting…

This morning Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Steve Sviggum phoned PIM to confirm that he’s still awaiting an advisory opinion from the US Department of Justice that will seal the fate–for now, at least–of his on-hold run for governor. (More details here.)

Sviggum is not optimistic. He says federal officials "said verbally I was covered by the Hatch Act [which prohibits federal employees from running for partisan office] because of my jurisdiction over and management of the OSHA program."

The opinion is expected any day. "Every day I look at my emails and my Blackberry," said Sviggum. "It’s the most frustrating thing, working with the federal government, that I’ve ever done.

"I was originally told by them it would take a couple of days to get an opinion. What they meant was it would take a couple of days to do the investigation after they got to it…. I know last week, they did do some investigation. They called me and the CFO and the HR person here [at DLI]. I’ve requested of them twice to expedite this, so that i know one way or the other."

Sviggum stopped short of saying that an adverse ruling would keep him out of the governor’s race for good, but he seemed to concede that was likely. "It just changes the mix completely if I have to resign to run. I think it changes the mix of cost/benefits significantly for me. Going 17 months without a paycheck changes the mix for me. It changes it dramatically."