Pioneer Press
Updated: 08/19/2009 11:52:28 PM CDT
Former Minnesota House Speaker Steve Sviggum will not run for governor next year, according to a Twin Cities Public Television blog.
Sviggum, a Kenyon Republican and the state labor and industry commissioner, decided to scrap his planned campaign after a federal official told him, in effect, he would have to quit his state job in order to run, TPT's Capitol reporter Mary Lahammer reported Wednesday. Since Sviggum administers the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act in the state, the U.S. solicitor general ruled he is subject to the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits political activities by federal employees.
"It's a downer," Sviggum told Lahammer. "At this time I'm suspending my campaign. I'm not saying I'm ending it."
He said there's a small chance he could revive his candidacy if none of the nine announced Republican candidates catches on.
Sviggum said he had to keep his $108,400-a-year day job to pay his bills. He told Lahammer the realization he could not run for governor "left a hole in my stomach the size of Lake Mille Lacs."
— Bill Salisbury
No comments:
Post a Comment