HOUSE VOTES TO LET U.S. WORKERS POLITIC, ON OWN TIME

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 4, 1993                   TAG: 9303040135
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short
HOUSE VOTES TO LET U.S. WORKERS POLITIC, ON OWN TIME
The House voted 333 to 86 Wednesday to overhaul the Hatch Act and allow federal workers to engage in partisan politics as long as they do so on their own time and not on the job.
The House bill retained the prohibition on running for federal and state offices. But it would let civil service and U.S. Postal Service employees run for election to local office, manage federal, state and local campaigns and raise campaign money.
Congress has been trying to liberalize the 1939 law, which restricts the political activities of federal workers, for the last two decades. Now, with a Democrat in the White House who supports changing the law, it appears a sure bet the Hatch Act will be repealed this year.
The bill moves next to the Senate, where Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman John Glenn, D-Ohio, said he would convene hearings after a director for the Office of Personnel Management has been confirmed.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB