Mayor's order limits City of Tulsa employee campaigning, including firefighters and police unions

TULSA, Okla. - City of Tulsa employees face new restrictions when it comes to campaigning this election season.

And that's sparked controversy.

Mayor Dewey Bartlett issued an executive order prohibiting city employees from campaigning for local elections. The order states city employees cannot use their position to influence the outcomes of local campaigns.

Now firefighter and police unions are researching their options.

"It states very specifically that city employees are not to be involved with campaigning," said Mayor Bartlett.

Before the order, city employees could campaign as long as they did not do so on the clock or in city attire. The mayor, along with city councilors, says this was an oversight by a previous city attorney.

"In this case, state law says city charter position is superior to state law, if they were to conflict," Bartlett said.

"Let me say I don't have any disrespect for the firefighters who campaigned years ago," said councilor Rick Westcott. "They were acting in compliance with what then city attorney Deirdre Dexter said. But I think that she was clearly wrong, and therefore their activities were wrong."

In 2009, firefighters went door to door campaigning for three candidates for city council. Councilors like Westcott say it was illegal for firefighters to campaign.

"There are also federal laws that are at issue. The federal Hatch Act comes into play if city employees receive federal grants and federal funding, and ours do," he said.

The Hatch Act states government employees can campaign on their own time. Councilors say when a union takes a stance, it crosses that line.

"Anytime you receive federal dollars there are strings attached," said former city councilor Eric Gomez. "It should've been the policy of the city of Tulsa all along."

Now that this executive order is effective, the fire union says it is researching all of its options.

IAFF Local 176 tells 2News:

"We're looking into the legality of the order Mayor Bartlett has issued to see if that order is in conflict with any state law or federal law, as well as the rights that are given to us as union firefighters from the state. Once that research is done and we have the answers that we need, we will respond with the appropriate action. "

The Fraternal Order of Police tells 2News:

"Due to the fact that the mayor has taken it upon himself to issue this edict, and this issue could be construed as political, the FOP will be making no statement."

The FOP says it is looking into pursuing legal options.

Some city councilors agree with the executive order, but they believe it goes too far. They fear the order can be easily misconstrued.

You can read the documents mentioned above by clicking on the associated links.

Mayor's Executive Order: http://media2.kjrh.com/html/pdfs/executiveorder.pdf
Federal Hatch Act: www.osc.gov/documents/hatchact/ha_fed.pdf
City of Tulsa: www.cityoftulsa.org
Fire Union: www.tulsafirefighters.org
Fraternal Order of Police: tulsafop93.org/default.html