Roberta Phillip-Robins, a candidate seeking to represent North and Northeast Portland in Oregon’s House of Representatives, has quit her job to stay in the race.

The Willamette Week reported Friday that her work for the county violated an election law called the Hatch Act.

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Roberta Phillips-Robbins moderates a conversation between Portland mayoral candidates on April 29, 2016. Bradley W. Parks / OPB

It bars some local employees whose jobs are federally funded from running for office.

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Roberta Phillip-Robbins was a gang prevention specialist with Multnomah County. She said she was surprised to learn her candidacy violated the Hatch Act.

"I was careful to check in with the county attorney before I decided to get into this race, specifically to find out if it was okay for me to be a candidate and still be a county employee," she said.

Phillip-Robbins resigned late Friday.

"I am a person of integrity, so once I learned that there was this law that applied to me I had no choice," she said. "I am 100 percent committed to running, winning and serving."

Phillip-Robbins said her position coordinating gang prevention work was not renewed in the county's budget for next year and was set to expire in December.

A spokesman with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which oversees the Hatch Act, said it generally allows candidates to chose between quitting their jobs or withdrawing from a race.



Phillip-Robbins' chief opponent in the race, Tawna Sanchez, is the family services director at the Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland. Ballots are due May 17.