Law professor comments on Babeu staff story

Professor Paul Bender recently was quoted in an Arizona Republic article, titled “Babeu staff facing federal inquiry.”

The Feb. 24 article reported on the U.S. Office of Special Counsel’s investigation into whether one or more employees of the Pinal County Sheriff Office engaged in prohibited political activity while on the job.

The Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency, is tasked with protecting federal employees and draws its authority from laws, including the Hatch Act.

The act, which was enacted during President Franklin Roosevelt’s administration, took aim at “old-style corruption” and political patronage, Bender said.

"Basically, you can't politick while you are in one of these covered offices," Bender said. "The boss can't come around and say, 'Give me $100 to give to my favorite political candidate,' which used to happen. And it applies pretty broadly, and my impression is it can apply if there's any federal money around.”

Bender teaches courses on U.S. and Arizona constitutional law. He has written extensively about constitutional law, intellectual property and Indian law, and is coauthor of the two-volume casebook/treatise, "Political and Civil Rights in the United States." He has argued more than 20 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and actively participates in constitutional litigation in federal and state courts. Bender has served as a member of the Hopi Tribe’s Court of Appeals, and is currently Chief Justice of the Fort McDowell Nation Supreme Court and the San Carlos Apache Court of Appeals.