Previous Story
OSC unable to determine if Hatch Act covers DPS deputy chief
|
Posted on Nov 08 2011
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel has been unable to determine whether Department of Public Safety deputy commissioner Ambrosio Ogumoro is covered by the Hatch Act when he allegedly asked DPS employees to attend and bring food to the Oct. 5, 2010, campaign rally for then delegate candidate Joseph N. Camacho.
Saipan Tribune tried but failed to contact Ogumoro yesterday for comment.
In an Oct. 26, 2010, letter to human rights advocate and former Rota public school teacher Wendy Doromal, OSC attorney Mariama Liverpool said they requested information about DPS’ federal funding several times from, among others, former DPS commissioner Santiago F. Tudela and current DPS Commissioner Ramon C. Mafnas, but there have been no response.
“Thus, we have decided to close this matter without further action,” Liverpool said.
In a footnote to her letter, Liverpool pointed out that news reports indicate that DPS received a federal COPS Hiring grant from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2009 to hire nine police officers.
Doromal had asked the OSC to look into Ogumoro’s and Attorney General Edward T. Buckingham’s purported violations of the Hatch Act.
The Hatch Act restricts the political activity of individuals employed by state, country, or municipal executive agencies in connection with programs financed by loans or grants by the U.S. or a federal agency.
Liverpool said it was alleged that Ogumoro also asked DPS employees to deliver tables to the site of the Camacho rally and to cut and prepare fish while the employees were on duty.
At the time, Ogumoro was the deputy commissioner for DPS.
With respect to Buckingham, Liverpool said that evidence suggests that Buckingham violated the Hatch Act when he invited staff from his office to attend an August 2010 campaign party for Camacho.
In a separate letter to Doromal, Liverpool said OSC is closing the matter “without further action.”
