Butler County EMA director withdraws from race

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Faced with retaining his job or withdrawing as a candidate for sheriff, Rick Sliger decided to continue working as the director of the Butler County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency.

Sliger's withdrawal leaves only two candidates seeking the Republican nomination for sheriff in the Aug. 5 primary election. They are Sheriff Mark Dobbs and challenger Charles Sisk, a retired Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant. No Democrats filed for sheriff.

Butler County Clerk Tonyi Deffendall said Sliger signed the withdrawal form in her office Tuesday

afternoon.

Sliger declined to comment about his decision but he had previously said he did not think the federal Hatch Act would apply to his situation because he is paid by the county -- not the federal government.

He first filed for sheriff on March 14 but withdrew the same day when a question was raised about the Hatch Act. After researching the issue Sliger filed for sheriff a second time on March 24.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel in Washington D.C., conducted an investigation after receiving a complaint.

On May 13 Sliger was faxed a letter from Johanna Oliver an attorney in the Hatch Act Unit of the Special Counsel's Office.

She informed Sliger his candidacy for sheriff "is in violation of the Hatch Act."

Oliver noted the BCEMHSA receives an emergency management performance grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This grant passes through the Missouri state treasurer to Butler County and is then disbursed to the BCEMHSA.

"An employee, however is covered by the restrictions of the Hatch Act if he has duties in connection with a program funded by a federal grant, even if the federal grant passes through another agency first," Oliver wrote.

To comply with the law and avoid disciplinary action, Sliger was told to withdraw his candidacy or resign from his employment with the BCEMHSA.