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| Fired jail workers sue for $3 mil. |
| By Chicago Sun Times |
| Published: 02/16/2004 |
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Three longtime Illinois Department of Corrections workers who claim they were fired by Democratic Gov. Blagojevich because of their Republican affiliations seek more than $1 million each in federal lawsuits filed Feb. 6. Dwayne Clark and Mark Pierson, both of the Carbondale area, and Kim Bigley, now of Kentucky, claim in separate lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court that they were let go in 2003 shortly after Blagojevich came to power. Clark, who had worked for the department for 24 years, was first demoted from operations chief to deputy director and then terminated, his suit claims. Bigley worked for the department for 19 years, while Pierson was an employee for 24, and both served as wardens of corrections facilities before they were let go. All are now unemployed. "They were dedicated, long-term state employees who worked their way up from the bottom and were fired without reason, without cause, without warning and without a hearing,'' said their attorney, Scott Schimanski. Schimanski said several legal rulings have determined that so-called patronage hiring or firing solely for political reasons is illegal if the employees aren't considered high-level policy advisers. One case involved Illinois worker Cynthia Bard Rutan, who claimed she was denied a promotion by Republican Gov. Jim Thompson because she was a Democrat. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that denial violated her free speech and association rights. None of Schimanski's clients -- hired during Republican administrations -- were high-level advisers, he said. The governor's spokeswoman, Abby Ottenhoff, hadn't seen the suits but called the charges "outlandish.'' The lawsuits also name members of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, claiming that various members of that group conspired with the governor's office to have the workers fired. |
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