Federal law (the Hatch Act) was first passed in 1939.  It
 was intended to prevent the use of federal employees by
 political leaders for political campaign purposes.  Prior to
 the Act it was common for politicians and their crony types
 to force federal employees, at the peril of their jobs, to
 campaign for the party in power.  The Hatch Act made it
 illegal for federal employees (and certain other folks) to
 be active in political matters.  This was rather like having
 a law against being in a situation where one could be
 assulted, instead of having a law against assult.  The
 Federal Employees Political Actigvities Act of 1993 (PL
 103-94) partially addressed this inequity and made other
 significant changes in the restrictions imposed on
 empoloyees by the original law.

 The modified law still limits the political activities of
 federal and postal employees.  It also applies to a lesser
 extent to certain state and local government employees and
 places certain political activity restrictions on them.
 These are employees whose principle employment is in
 connection with an activity financed in whole or in part by
 federal funds.

 As I understand it, in general terms, money obtained from
 the federal government may not be used to lobby the federal
 government, including congress, for particular political
 goals.  Without this restriction, it is easy to see how an
 individual, or individuals, who is well funded by the
 federal government and uses the money to lobby for more
 support, could feed their own success.

 The above is a personal view only; it may not reflect the
 policy of any given federal agency or the federal
 government.

          xxxxxx@OER.DOE.GOV