Saline Police Chief Paul Bunten announced plans last year to run for sheriff this November.
Those plans are now dashed after Bunten this week received notice from the U.S. Office of Special Counsel that he is prohibited from running for sheriff because of a little-known 1939 federal law.
The Hatch Act limits the political activities of federal employees and certain employees of state and local governments by restricting them from running for public office in partisan elections if they work for agencies financed in whole or in part by federal loans or grants.
The Saline Police Department receives money from a federal Community Safety grant that is used to provide impaired driving patrols, seatbelt enforcement and youth alcohol patrols.
Under the Hatch Act, that is enough to disqualify Bunten from running for sheriff, according to a letter he received Monday from attorney Mariama Liverpool of the Special Counsel's Hatch Act Unit.
To continue his campaign for sheriff, Bunten would have to quit his position as Saline police chief, which he is not willing to do.
"It's over," he said. "I could quit, but I'm not going to do that."
Bunten learned of the Hatch Act in early December when he received a two-paragraph letter from his opponent in the race, Sheriff Dan Minzey.
Minzey warned Bunten that his bid for sheriff might be in violation of federal law. Bunten sought the opinion of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, saying at the time that he would withdraw from the race rather than violate the law or quit the police chief's post.
Bunten has been Saline's police chief since 1994.
"I'm very happy at the Saline Police Department," he said Monday. "The reason I was running for sheriff is because that department is in dire need of leadership and I felt I could provide it."
Bunten said he believed the Hatch Act limited more qualified candidates from running for elected offices.
"It's disappointing," he said, "but it doesn't break my heart."
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