Yes, there should have been an “Act” after that “Hatch in my original post - your comment brings to mind that probably the prohibition against political activity goes beyond just duty time - I have a nephew who had a fairly high-level administrative job with the sky-marshal program in years past who said he couldn’t even put a campaign sign in his yard or a bumper-sticker for a candidate on his car - pretty sure they couldn’t get a LtCol for smiling at dinner though....
No, I think he just makes it a habit to stay away from it.