Advance Indiana has a post about a lawsuit filed by Richard Mourdock’s former chief deputy, apparently based on a sketchy employment contract into which Mourdock attempted to lock his successor. The lawsuit is the subject of an AP story in the South Bend Tribune.
The former deputy, Jim Holden, is suing current state Treasurer Kelly Mitchell in Marion County Superior Court, alleging that Mitchell fired him upon taking office.
Holden says that in the final months of Mourdock’s term, Mourdock gave Holden a three-year, $300,000 contract as counsel for the Indiana Board for Depositories, which the treasurer’s office oversees.
That contract was to take effect on Mourdock’s last day in office and cover most of the next treasurer’s term, with an automatic extension if Holden was called up to active duty with the National Guard, WIBC-FM reported.
According to Advance Indiana, Holden is advancing claims based on breach of contract and, also, under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). USERRA is a law designed to protect individuals from adverse employment actions based on their military status and to secure re-employment for individuals who have left their employment to serve in the active military for up to five years. The goals of USERRA are laudable but can be onerous for employers depending on the situation.
Signing anyone to a contract that takes effect on a person’s last day in office and binds their successor is, if not unethical, at least a horrible practice. It amounts to an “FU” to their successor on the way out the door.
On the other hand, a long time ago as a USMC Reserve officer I spent a little time on the phone with employers of my Marines, a lot of time when our unit was called up for Gulf War I, explaining the employment/reemployment rights of reservists.
Most employers were accommodating and understanding. Some small businesses (I remember a guy running a 3 man auto repair shop in particular, who was looking at losing and then having to rehire 30% of his staff) had a significant hardship, but still tried to do right by our Marines.
The worst problems we had tended to be large public or governmental agencies (hospitals for whatever reason seemed to be the worst offenders). I had, and still have zero sympathy for those large organizations. In cases like that during Gulf War I, our district US attorney was more than happy to immediately have a conversation with the employer in question. Sometimes all it took was for someone’s assistant to tell them that “the US attorney is on the phone, he wants to talk to you about the legal rights of reservists” to resolve the issue.
As I read USERRA, for government positions, it’s a choice between creating a new position or picking someone to fire.
This is quite entertaining. Mordok, the black prince of Indiana politics, is again undermining the resources of Indiana. Mordock was a treasurer with only a college degree in geology. He was grossly unqualified to serve as treasurer. However, Indiana, being a yellow dog republican state, would elect a republican even it he was Charles Manson’s nephew.
It is unconscionable that Holden would be offered a position with the cheapest and most niggardly employer in the nation, the State of Indiana. His claim under USERRA is comical. His military service was irrelevant to the state refusing to recognize an unenforceable contract.
Maybe this travesty will get some coverage in which the ordinary citizen can quickly apprehend what a skunk Mordock (thanks, Carlito.) really is. Maybe even loyal Republicans might begin to understand that a skunk running for office in a Republican suit is still a skunk.
Welcome back, Doug.
Stuart, the Republican failure involving Mordock goes back to the redistricting of Joe Donelly’s congessional district. The republicans through the uber-republican county of Elkhart into Donnelly’s old district. They wanted to get the tea party queen Jackie Walorski elected. Nominating Mordock over Lugar was quite a surprise, but when you go to the ball with the far right, you have to dance with them. So the republicans swapped Jackie Walorski for Senator Joe Donnelly. Quite a trade. Now if Evan Bayh runs for Coats seat, Indiana will have two Democratic senators, something that has not happened since the early 1970s with Birch Bayh and Vance Hartke.
The idea of trying to play both sides is always a problem for politicians, but how do you balance the business interests with the religious right? I remember that Goldwater said something along the order that you can’t deal with the religious right, because it’s their way or the highway. The good news is that you have a voting block on your side. The bad news is that they won’t negotiate and they are authoritarian. It’s the spoiled kid at the party. Sometimes it’s just better to see what you can do without them and hope the ones who made the devil’s bargain will get creamed, as it did with Pence and his recent debacle.
The racist slumlord that informed Dylan Root’s racial terrorism donated $2500 to the campaign of Richard Mordock. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/23/1395894/-Racist-slumlord-whose-group-inspired-Dylann-Roof-donated-to-48-different-Republicans-in-34-states
And can’t you just hear the guy’s defense now? “Ahm jest exercisin’ my rights to free speech as a patriotic citizen in this wonderful country, to build a gov’ment whose leaders will rescue us from the socialists who surround us…” My B.S. antenna is already buzzing.