Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 9, 1994 TAG: 9402090087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser, in an opinion filed this week, ordered McGraw to pay $54,990 in damages to Marsha B. Conner.
"I think it's a precedent-setting case for Virginia," said attorney Don Huffman, who represented Conner. "It serves notice that you can't simply discharge people for political reasons."
Conner, the county's chief deputy clerk for five years, lost her job after McGraw defeated former Clerk Elizabeth Stokes in 1991. Conner filed a civil suit alleging that McGraw had violated her civil rights by firing her because of her political ties to Stokes.
During the two-day trial in November, McGraw testified that he fired Conner for two reasons: concern with her management style as Stokes' top aide, and bookkeeping questions raised by an audit of the clerk's office before he took over.
Conner, who has since found work as a clerk in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Roanoke, won compensation for lost pay and to help supplement her current salary - which is $12,000 less than her former job paid.
She initially sought to be reinstated in her county job, but conceded during the trial that her dispute with McGraw made that virtually impossible.
"I'm just tickled to death," Conner said after being told of the ruling. "I feel vindicated. I've spent 24 years of my life building a reputation in the court system, and this kind of clears the air."
Conner was chief deputy of the Salem clerk of court's office before going to work for Roanoke County.
Attorneys for both parties have anxiously awaited a ruling in the case, but both were caught off guard when told of Kiser's decision.
"Yahoo," exclaimed Huffman. "Gosh, that's great news. I hadn't heard that."
Fain Rutherford, McGraw's attorney, had the opposite reaction.
"He did what? How much? Good night!" Rutherford said.
McGraw said he plans to appeal.
"We told the truth throughout the trial," he said.
Kiser, based on statements in his written opinion, did not seem convinced.
The testimony of McGraw and Kathryn Claytor, Roanoke County's assistant director of human resources, "was incomplete, inconsistent and had the ring of pretext," the judge said. "McGraw's responses on the stand were often vague."
Claytor, who attended the meeting at which McGraw told Conner she would lose her job, testified that the reason given was a difference in management styles.
But Conner testified that McGraw said, "It is just one of those political things that has nothing to do with your abilities."
Kiser found Conner's description of the meeting more credible.
"Her demeanor on the stand during direct and cross-examination was direct and forthright," he said. "Her explanations were complete and consistent."
Both attorneys agree the ruling could have implications for hiring decisions by elected officials. While politics is an accepted reason for hiring and firing in some positions - top aides to statewide elected officeholders, for example - state and federal courts have differed on the issue for constitutional officers.
Rutherford said the most significant part of the decision was not the award of damages, but that Kiser decided in a summary judgement before the trial that the chief deputy clerk's position could not be based on politics.
Similar lawsuits are pending in federal court against the sheriffs of Roanoke and Rockbridge counties.
Two sheriff's deputies in Roanoke County who worked for Mike Kavanaugh, a Republican, are claiming that Gerald Holt, a Democrat, fired them for political reasons shortly after Holt ousted Kavanaugh in the 1991 election.
In Rockbridge County, two deputies say Sheriff Robert Day, a Democrat, dismissed them for political reasons soon after he was elected in 1991. Kiser heard arguments in that case in December, but has not released an opinion.
Huffman, former Republican state chairman, is representing all of the deputies, though he does not consider him a specialist in that area of law.
"But I guess I'm becoming one fast," he quipped.
by CNB