An assistant auditor has sued the state, claiming that his bosses are going after him because he is a Republican.
Darryl Black sued the Office of the State Auditor, saying that after Democratic Auditor Beth Wood was elected, supervisors in her office began pressuring him to take a voluntary layoff because he is a Republican.
A spokesman for Wood and the Auditor's Office said he could not comment on the lawsuit because it involved personnel issues.
Prior to 2007, Black says in the lawsuit, he received good or even outstanding performance reviews. In 2008, before the most recent election for auditor, Black wrote letters published in The News & Observer. He did not identify himself as a state employee and the issues he wrote about were not connected to his duties as an auditor.
Black previously had run for the legislature as a Republican and he believed his managers knew of his political leanings.
More after the jump.
—————
After the letters were published, Black's supervisor criticized the letters, saying they could diminish his "value to the office."
In 2009, Wood, a Democrat, defeated then-Auditor Les Merritt, a Republican. On his next review, his supervisor wrote that he had "grave concerns about the letters as objectivity is a fundamental element to the independence of all auditors...Letters appear to have stopped after discussion with supervisor."
In June, the auditors office laid of an administrative employee who had been in the office for 23 years, who was also a Republican, according to the lawsuit.
Shortly after Black's performance review, a supervisor raised claims about Blacks' proficiency. On Aug. 13, Black was offered a voluntary buyout. He was told he was the only one being offered the package and involuntary layoffs could loom over the office.
In the lawsuit, Black's attorney, Michael C. Byrne of Raleigh, wrote that Black is being run out of the office, "based not upon legitimate organizational needs but on the illegal and unconstitutional grounds of [Black's] party affiliation and registration."
The lawsuit is seeking an injunction against the auditor's office that would prevent any action against Black while the case is heard.
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly identified the administrative employee who had previously been let go. The employee is a 23-year veteran of the office, not a 23-year-old. Dome regrets the error.
Comments
Re: Worker says he was targeted for politics
September 1, 2009 - 9:39pm — mountainmanThis kind of political harassment occurs in every department of state goverment.It has become business as usual for the supervisors and department heads in DOT to harass and politically intimadate their few republican employees. There are very few Republicans in DOT because they only hire democrats,and the republicans that were hired during Jim Martins term as governor have been fighting for their jobs since he left office. DOT has zero tolorance policy for harassment??? Who will enforce it???? Not DOT supervisors,Division engineers,secretary of trans or the governor. The democrats in DOT make the mafia look like the boy scouts.
Re: Worker says he was targeted for politics
September 1, 2009 - 3:53pm — BitterEXdemocratAnother example of INTOLERANT LIEBERAL democrackkk SLAVE DRIVERS!
Re: Worker says he was targeted for politics
September 1, 2009 - 3:56pm — BitterEXdemocratBeth Wood is WAY too chicken to HIRE FERN SHUBERT! She's the woman who OUGHT to be running the show in the Auditors office if there was any
sense in NC!
Re: Worker says he was targeted for politics
September 1, 2009 - 1:45pm — rsquared11Second verse, same as the first...
Once again the Democrats are involved in another scandal. Once again, the new auditor is involved in a scandal. I thought auditor was the one position that was not supposed to be about politics.
From Beth Wood's campaign website:
The Office will adhere to the duties for which it was created, and will no longer be used to promote political agendas.
The work performed by the Office will be objective and independent of political or personal agendas.
Employment will not be based on political favors but on knowledge, skills and experience.
Re: Worker says he was targeted for politics
September 1, 2009 - 8:04am — Isaac136I think there's little question that he was targeted for removal. It's how things are done. The Democrats have held power a long, long, long time, and this is part of the modus operandi. It's wrong, but it goes on and most of the time, people just shrug.
It would be a welcome change of pace to see our leaders speak out against this practice. But they won't, of course, since they're the ones who ensure it's continuance.
It's especially unfortunate to see this in the auditor's office, which should be taking special care to avoid the appearance of this kind of chicanery. But this is the same auditor's office that refused to release the audit on Easley until the political heat became unbearable.
Most folks in state government who are subject to similar treatement don't have the advantage of a politically hot issue to propel the injustice into the news.