WBBH-TV, Tuesday, October 7th, 2008.

LEE COUNTY: Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott may have more to worry about than just the court of public opinion. Federal investigators are now looking into whether Scott broke the law by campaigning for John McCain.

Officials with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel say they have received so many phone calls from the public that they launched an investigation into Sheriff Scott on Tuesday.

The question is - did he use his position as sheriff to influence an election? If so, he could be in violation of a federal election law called the Hatch Act.

But if Sheriff Scott is found in violation of the Hatch Act, the feds can pull two years salary worth of federal funding - the equivalent to $300,000 for the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Another possibility is removal from office.

Regarding the federal investigation, Sheriff Scott sent us this statement:

“I am on duty 24/7 and 365 whether in or out of uniform. Like every other elected official, I am aware of from President to Governor to State Representatives, etc. We engage in political activities whether for ourselves as candidates or for others. As of this writing, I am unaware of having done anything to generate all this attention other than using the senator’s full name.”

We should also point out that Bill Cameron in Charlotte County and Kevin Rambosk in Collier County were both reassigned to avoid violating the Hatch Act.

Cameron is still under investigation.

As for how long Scott’s investigation will take, the feds say they’d like to have all of the Hatch Act cases wrapped up before the November election.

Feds investigating sheriff after ‘Hussein’ remark - News- msnbc.com.