Dueling in District 5...

Who would have thought that of all the council races this year, the GOP primary for District 5 is probably going to be the most interesting? Considering the district’s about as safely Republican as you can get, I guess it makes sense that the real race worth watching in the west is the primary. But still, it’s only May and the politicking is already more intense than I expect to see in any other race.

And I think any discussion of this race begins and ends with soon-to-be-retired police chief Wayne Livesay, whose candidacy has sparked consternation, backlash, and legal questions among Republicans. Need more background? Thanks to HoCoBlog’s new site, you can catch up on the whole Livesay story here.

For his part, Livesay’s weathered the storm and – freed from the constraints of being a public official – is ready to jump head-first into the fray.

“I’ve never backed down from a tough fight,” he said in an interview Monday.

Livesay, a Republican, is vying for the westernmost County Council seat, District 5.

Backers of Greg Fox, Livesay’s Republican opponent, have questioned whether the chief violated the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits local government employees who oversee federal funds from campaigning in partisan elections.

Livesay said he received an e-mail Friday from the federal Office of Special Counsel, telling him that Fox’s backers were right: Livesay must resign from either his job or his County Council campaign by June 2 to avoid violating the Hatch Act.

…Livesay accused his opponents of being politically motivated in raising the Hatch Act issue.

Republican Jim Adams, who is also seeking the seat, said Livesay is the front-runner in the race, and his opponents should run positive campaigns.

“I think the bloggers are playing this [Hatch Act violation] up, and I really believe that we should give [Livesay] a fair shake,” Adams said.

Aside from being overly conciliatory towards his opponents, Adams makes the mistake of lumping us bloggers together. I claim no credit whatsoever for this. Were it not for HoCoBlog, I’d still be wondering if the Hatch Act is related in anyway to Orin Hatch. In fact, I am still wondering that. HoCoBlog deserves all the credit/blame (depending on your perspective) for this one.

I merely congratulate him on getting his blog’s URL in the press several times over the last few weeks. Well played, sir!