Ron Wyden

Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden requested this week that the Office of Special Counsel conduct an investigation into if Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. violated the Hatch Act.

According to Wyden, Kennedy was in contact with two libertarian candidates who were running for office last month.

The Hatch Act doesn’t allow federal employees to participate in events involving politics.

Wyden alleges that Kennedy spoke to Libertarian House candidate Marco Battaglia in Iowa, where he tried to convince the candidate to drop out.

Kennedy also allegedly talked to Rick Stewart who was also running as a Libertarian candidate for Iowa’s second congressional district, according to The Hill newspaper.

“Secretary Kennedy called Stewart in his official capacity as a member of the President’s cabinet, and he asked that Stewart suspend his campaign in order to make it easier for the Republican candidate to win the race, easier for the Republican Party to maintain its majority in the House of Representatives, and easier for Kennedy to personally avoid Congressional subpoenas from Democratic committee chairs,” Wyden wrote in a letter.

He said that Iowa voters should decide who to vote for and not have a federal employee intervene.

“Iowa’s voters should be able to freely choose who represents them in Congress, and our democracy does not allow political appointees to take that power away from them by deleting candidates from the ballot,” the letter reads.