by iOTWreport reader RickeyG
“Fired for being conservative.” As I read through the search results, I found myself in disbelief over typing such a search, because it appeared that I was, indeed, about to be “fired for being conservative”. And the really baffling part was that it was so inadvertent. I mean, much as I sometimes wanted to have a spirited political discussion, I avoided getting into arguments with people at work. So, what happened?
I’ve long had a habit of bringing reading material into work to place in the employee break room. Being as I worked at a city police department with a mostly male staff, much of what I brought in was police, car, or gun magazines. Occasionally something political like newsletters from Hillsdale College or Judicial Watch, but not as often as the “safe” literature. One day I received a piece of unsolicited (“junk”) mail from Elbert Lee Guillory’s organization. I only had a passing knowledge of who he is, a Democrat turned Republican and former elected state representative in Louisiana. Without reading it, I put the booklet into a stack of other magazines intended for the break room.
A couple days later, my mother-in-law passed away (the day before Good Friday), so I ended up taking the next six days off. When I returned the following Wednesday, I saw an email chain had been going around about “offensive” material in the break room. One employee was so upset over it he sent an email to everyone in the department to sound off. The Chief was livid and wanted to know who had done such a dastardly deed.
It starts to get a little confusing, so I better give you a rundown of the players involved so you know who is who. Since we’re talking about mostly liberals here, I’ll use fictitious names. Astute readers may enjoy the significance of the names I’m giving them.
The City Manager, who I never met with face-to-face during this matter, but was (from what I was being told) the one pulling all the strings, I will name Lois. The Assistant City Manager, who was part of my “hearing” (and the only one of the players I could confirm is a registered Democrat; all the others were either No Party Affiliation or unknown), I’ll call Valerie. The Human Resources Director was also present at the hearing, I’ll call her Susan.
The Police Department members in the story were the Chief, to whom I will give the name Neville (perhaps a bit obvious to history buffs), my supervisor (a Captain), who I will name Joe (this one is a bit obscure, you’ll have to be a major movie buff to get this one), and the “offended” party, a Muslim African-American officer who I will call DeWayne (from a major news story that happened while this drama was playing out in the Spring of 2019).
I should also explain what this “offensive” material was. A booklet entitled “Little Book of Big Liberal Lies”, published by Elbert Guillory’s America (elbertguillorysamerica.com). What was in it? Mostly quotes from well-known Liberals/Democrats from the past 100 years.Quotes from Senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia, and past member of the Ku Klux Klan), Margaret Sanger (Eugenicist and founder of the organization now known as Planned Parenthood, whose ideas on racial purity were widely accepted in Nazi Germany), Bill and Hillary Clinton, Senator/VP Joe Biden, Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada), and Democratic Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson.
The booklet was, in my estimation, clearly pointing out the racist history of the Democratic Party and some of its most famous politicians from the perspective of a black man (Guillory). DeWayne apparently couldn’t comprehend that and somehow came to believe that the person who put the booklet in the break room was the real racist. Either that or it was an intentional political attack. I was even told later that he was threatening to involve the NAACP in the matter.
Bear in mind, I did not read the booklet before bringing it to work. I only became aware of the contents after the situation “blew up”. In a meeting with Chief Neville and Captain Joe, after looking at the booklet, I told them that most of the quotes contained therein have been public knowledge for years (even decades) and there didn’t appear to be anything that wasn’t true. That fell on deaf ears. I offered to personally apologize to DeWayne, but was told later he refused to meet with me.
Another important point to mention is that I came forward voluntarily to admit that I brought the booklet to work. Captain Joe later told me they had no idea where it came from and if I hadn’t come forward they would still be trying to figure it out. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider that option; lay low, keep my mouth shut, and let the whole thing blow over. But no, I had to be honest and offer to set things right. Silly me.
Then came my “hearing” to present evidence why I shouldn’t be terminated. The T-word was bandied about almost from the start, but I still foolishly believed if I was up front and truthful, all would be forgiven and I could get back to work. You see, I was suspended with pay pending the outcome (I would add “of the investigation,” standard practice in law enforcement administrative matters, but I can’t because there was no investigation.
Present at the hearing were Chief Neville and Captain Joe from the police department, with Valerie and Susan representing City Hall. It was pretty obvious that Valerie and Susan were angry, based on facial expressions and body language. I pointed out all of what I’ve already mentioned here in my defense, along with what I thought would be the most important point.
Government employees are generally to be dealt with according to the principal of “progressive disciple.” Simply put, the more times someone screws up, the more harshly they are disciplined. Since I had a four-year history of above average or excellent evaluations and ZERO previous discipline issues, I pointed out that termination would violate that principle. I even mentioned (without using names) employees who had repeated cases of complaints or other performance issues far worse than mistakenly bringing a booklet to work, yet were still employed.
I should also interject that I was not a union member and had no representation at the hearing. Yes, a huge mistake in retrospect, but I honestly believed they would not do anything more severe than maybe give me a day or two off without pay. Wrong again.
The entire process took almost four weeks to play out. Captain Joe called me to say that “the City” (which I took to mean the City Manager, Lois) was going to go through with termination. Throughout the ordeal I was never quite sure if he was on my side or not. I sure was hoping so, since he is also something of a conservative. Chief Neville was clearly trying to preserve his position and was apparently willing to commit any act of appeasement to keep his boss (Lois) happy.
So I resigned. I’ve never been fired from a job since a part-time gig in college over 40 years ago and didn’t want to start now, just two and a half years away from being able to collect Medicare and Social Security. Not only did I lose a good paycheck (which is only partly replaced with a much lower-paying job), now I have to pay almost $600 a month for health insurance that was formerly no cost.
But back to my opening paragraph, about the Internet search for “fired for being conservative.” I found numerous examples of people who had either been terminated from a job or de-platformed from a web-based source of income. Don’t believe me? Do the search yourself. Since my situation broke, there have been additional stories of people being “shadow-banned” (thus losing income) or otherwise punished. Just this past week, as I have been writing this, a contestant in the Ms. America pageant was forced to drop out for expressing conservative views on her social media. Another story came out about how much Google and other tech companies manipulated the 2016 election.
Why does this happen? There is an old saying: “To anger conservatives, tell them lies. To anger liberals, tell them the truth.” That certainly is true, as I can painfully attest. They are so invested in their ideology they cannot allow anything or anyone to call it into question. Unfortunately, their ideology is not founded on truth or history. So they will appease the offended and punish those who speak the truth.
But appeasement is not an effective long-term strategy. Something always breaks down, it is never enough. Will DeWayne, who has been appeased for many years based on what I’ve heard from current and former employees, someday face discipline himself and act out in response? Those who did the appeasing would likely feel his wrath, their monster chicken coming home to roost.
Sorry to hear of your misfortune. That S*CKS, big time.
But, it’s going to open other doors for you, I’m sure.
Opportunities. Hang in there!
(…any chance of finding a lawyer who will sue the city/police pro bono for you?)
You can bet the farm that if it was a liberal who was fired he or she would pursue civil action and it would make national news. Time to counter punch and shove it right back.
It’s harder to sue, but not impossible, if you resign under duress than if you’re fired without good cause.
And if there is no clearly stated policy about the reason for your dismissal, it isn’t hard to win a suit for being fired without some kind of prior warnings.
Scary, given my current employer…..
Too bad lawyers are so expensive. This is disgusting and is censorship and violates the US Constitution.
If this happened to a leftist the place would be sued and the fired liberal would be a millionaire.
I never would have admitted to bringing anything in. Like he said, if you hadn’t fessed up, the offended parties would be sitting in their star chamber with dick in hand and no one to screw over with it.
Point is, you’re describing a hearing where a found book in a public place is prompting a witch hunt. There is not going to be any nuance or philosophical discussion the merits or facts of the contents.
This is to assign blame not debate merits. And once you are in the crosshairs, this is about you coming clean for your wrongthink and accepting your punishment. Not saying “I fucked up and sorry I offended anyone. Not my intention.”
I live with this shit every day. Believe me when I say that I could get fired before I got a cup of coffee this morning if I gave an opinion on any of a dozen issues. On what should be noncontroversial topics at that.
There are only two genders.
Most climate change science is fake.
Democrats perpetuate poverty.
Democrats want to overthrow the people of this country.
Trump is not a nazi.
Being gay is a choice.
Beware the male gaze.
I could get fired over any of those remarks.
Sorry for what you’re going through. The government is not the home of the Lincoln Douglas debates in workplace disputes. Its almost entirely one sided and if you are a conservative then they are just looking for an excuse, which is illegal in some states, but the onus is on you to defend yourself and legal fees can bankrupt you.
Been there done that…back in 1991
When the State has an unhinged from God …which has been the goal of leftist Supreme Court Justices…that new ‘constitutional right’ StateReligion will defend the wicked and incompetent and burn down the competent and good every time. Beware of the State Church of the Sacred Heart of No Redeemer.
When other competent and good community members allow such stupidity—-we pay these people’s salaries and the financial debt of the State authority actually encouraging wickedness and incompetence is detrimental to our future well being — to occur…we become participants in our own destruction.
A State Sponsored ‘constitutional anti God religion’ supporting wickedness and incompetence is just plain dumb.
The place you were working wasn’t worth your efforts.
You chose to stay free.
They were already slaves to their many hates.
Dust their dirt off your shoes and walk away smiling.
I don’t believe for a second, had you not “fessed up”, they wouldn’t have known it was YOU who committed the mortal sin. Surveillance is everywhere, particularly in govt office bldgs/LE agencies. Seems they were “determined” to find the culprit BAMN, to the extent of pulling surveillance footage on everyone in the parking lot (to see who carried the weapon), even going so far as to pull The Gorgon Stare/Eye in the Sky. Comforting to know LE agencies commit more resources towards surveilling harmless citizens, than illegals wondering their cities.
I agree with Anonymous, it’s harder to sue since you quit as opposed to being fired (although I understand the merits of weighing a blemish on your record and the financial/mental aspects). That said, it’s not impossible and hopefully, in addition to explaining the process (above) you’ve compiled as much documentation as possible.
Were you to pursue legal remedy, I would search for an organization similar to the ACLJ (Jay Sekulow) who protects religious freedoms, (and by the sounds of your situation, I’m not sure this wouldn’t fall under that purview). The Muslim pulled the race/religious card.
https://aclj.org
Heck, if you are determined, maybe even contact Elbert Lee Guillory, as it was his “vile publication” that started the firestorm! (who knows he may have some contacts/pull).
I truly believe it’s cases like yours that eventually need to be brought before SCOTUS (after RBG croaks). Punishment of thought crimes/political beliefs are becoming the norm, lives are being ruined and no one (that I can tell) is fighting back.
Good luck RickyG, and I hope you find peace in your decision(s).
Everything in the “Little Book of Liberal Lies,” by Elbert
Guillory, is historically correct.
Get a lawyer Ricky G. Too many Nevilles in this country today. Liberals can’t handle the truth.
RickeyG — This is a cut and dried case of wrongful termination. Forget about pro bono anything, a halfway decent employment attorney dreams of cases like yours. What you’ve described in your situation is nearly identical in nature (it wasn’t over politics, but something similar) to the case that made one of our neighbors his first millions as a lawyer. That was his cut of the settlement.
You’ve clearly been discriminated against for your perceived political views. And along the way, you’ve been rooked out of your retirement benefits (ageism) and you’ve suffered grievous injury to your reputation.
Scott Blankenship’s law firm practices in WA, OR, and AK. But if you don’t live in any of those states I’m betting he will be able to hook you up with someone in his network of lawyer friends. But don’t delay. Forget about what you think was going through Lois, Valerie’s, Susan’s, Neville’s and the rest of their heads. Sue the hell out of them and retire to wherever you choose with enough money to pay for your medical insurance and a few fancy cars. If you want to take this offline through BFH, let me know and I’ll make an introduction to Scott.
http://www.blankenshiplawfirm.com/our-focus/employment-law/discrimination/
…
…the more I think about this, RickyG, the more certain I am that you have a great case, actually. You didn’t “resign” so much as you were forced to quit because of the hostility exhibited by the people who were bucking for a termination. And a few depositions will reveal it all. Go for it. I would.
Why didn’t you fight these asshats?
They are taking away your livelihood.
RickyG (Sorry to go on and on, but…)
This is what I would like to see for you:
True Legal Warriors!
“Scott Blankenship helped re-establish my integrity as a Police Officer following the unlawful termination of my unblemished law enforcement career with the Vancouver (WA) Police Department. His expertise & willingness to take the fight to the end caused the City of Vancouver to pay the largest single employment discrimination settlement in the NW (according to Jury Verdicts Northwest), $1,650,000. His team also returned my credentials as a “Retired” police officer “In Good Standing”. As a result citizens from SW Washington, Portland, OR, & Police Officers with the Fraternal Order of Police have begun writing to the US Dept of Justice & the FBI to investigate the corrupt practices within the City Attorney’s office, the Office of the Chief of Police, and the Vancouver City Manager. I would recommend Scott and his team, at any time, for any fight. Scott has once again garnered a reputation for taking on the Right Fight & winning!”
Police Officer
WOW, Getting really scary out there.
How these people got this nazied out,
I don’t know,they have “long marched”
thru our institutions and will NOT EVER STOP.
You cannot reason with them.History teaches
time & time again what happens NEXT.
How about fired for being a Never Trumper?
From DeWaynes point of view, it may be sport, more than indignation.
Seems to me that some people are always on the hunt for an excuse to play their victim card. The more they can hurt someone, the more they congratulate themselves for a job well done. For them cruelty equals satisfaction. Just speculating, of course.
Big mistake quitting. I’ve observed enough of these to know you should have let them fire you, then sue (or threaten to sue) for unlawful termination. They would have weighed their options and then offered you a big settlement. You would have 60 to 100k to add to your retirement, with a non-disclosure to protect your reputation.
@geeknerd — Same thing. If one can show they were discriminated against on the job based on their political views, I would certainly fight it. We are a (still) a nation of laws. Forget about the touchy feely aspects like, “Why would you work for an employer..blah, blah, blah?” This seems especially important if you’re talking about a gov’t agency that discriminates based on political views.
I wouldn’t last five minutes at a job like this. I’d have heads exploding. This is why I’ve been self-employed for the last 35 years. (And by the way, my boss is a real asshole.)
@TonyR — Not so important to be fired versus resigning. This may even make RickyG’s case stronger because he can testify that he was told beforehand that they wanted to terminate him and treated him with hostility — enough so that he didn’t think he had any recourse except to quit. The entire event, from beginning to end, was considered a fait accompli by his superiors, with no actual investigation and no opportunity for RickyG to even face his so-called accuser (the black co-worker).
I’m sorry, but you let pride get in the way. Should have waited for the firing and then sued not only the City, but each member of the board personally. This is the only thing they understand.
I live in a right to work state where you can be fired for just about anything, BUT you still have to be let go for a real reason. Where in the personnel policies manual did it forbid you from the action? Make them live up to the the standards they set or hammer them for not doing so.
@CRYOJOHN, In the hands of a good attorney, RickyG can show that he was a dead duck from get-go. He came back to a flood of email that had been circulating the office for a week about how reprehensible it was for someone to leave a booklet filled with nothing but the truth in the break room. How much you wanna bet there were other employees who felt intimidated by those emails? Hell! A good attorney would turn this into a class action! Pride? No. Fear? Yes. A hostile work environment with all the guns pointed at him.
Then some junior birdman lawyer in the city’s offices says, “Hey! This guy is about to retire. Let’s just lean on him to quit and we can save nickels and dimes!”
Don’t discuss politics in the office, and never use company e-mail for anything other than company business, even if the asshole faggots and dykes in your office use it to organize their get togethers. The progs are motherfuckers and total hypocrites, and they will look for any excuse to destroy you if you’re a conservative.
Thanks everyone for the input. Abigail, I will take you up on your offer (even though I’m in Florida). Fur, you have my permission to give her my email.
I did try to contact Guillory’s org but got no response. I also consulted a local attorney but he was pessimistic about my chances in an at will/right to work state.
@AA, I concur, but if firing was a foregone conclusion (as he soon realized it was going to be) he needed to fight tooth and nail to make them pay (either him in cash or the for their actions.) Once he understood firing was the worst they could do, the fear should have melted away since he knew, either way, he’d be out of a job.
At any rate, its behind him now and I hope his upstanding convictions pay off for him in the long run.
@CRYOJOHN — Yes, but it could be successfully argued, I think, that RickyG acted in a sensible and responsible manner and expected fairness in return. What they did wasn’t reasonable or even close to fair. He could also argue that he was still grieving the loss of his loved one whom he just buried. He had no record of disciplinary actions and in fact, when compared to other employees who did, they didn’t apply the rules to him. This seems like a very clear but case of discrimination to me and I wouldn’t want to be the defendant’s lawyer facing a jury pool.
RickyG — Yes, I’m glad to help if I can. This is a very important and timely situation not only for you but for the other 20% of Americans who are being openly discriminated against in the workplace for their political beliefs, as slightly revealed as they are.
RickyG,
What happened to you sux. Big Time.
I wish you well, and good luck.
Sue the pants off your old workplace.
Keep us informed as things progress.
This will be interesting to follow.
Sorry to hear about your experience. I know what it’s like to work where you had to keep quiet about your political beliefs. It’s wrong, but it’s life today. May God bless you for being truthful and standing up for your values.
And AA, God bless you. I agree with everything you said and hope you can get RickeyG in touch with someone who will fight for him and America. Fighting for America. That’s just what this is; fighting to get back the right to speak our minds without fear of reprisals.
Abigal Adams, I love your passion and determination.
One very important point is that Ricky G. is getting hammered by public servants collecting a tax payer salary. Which is why this idea that the State can operate under the phony constitutional right to rule in wickedness and incompentence because the Supreme Court has provided them with the consitutional (sic) right. And that’s where we are in the new StateReligion in which being wicked and incompetent is perfectly legal and acceptable,
This is a StateReligion with these Bozos…and the righteous and competent employees of the public sector can be destroyed by this phony religion operating on the taxpayer’s dime!!
It doesn’t take Milton Friedman to realize that such unconstitutional malarky which allows Public Servants to rule through wickedness and incompetence to continue is going to burn down the whole community paying these clowns salary as they burn down Ricky G’s well being.
Taxpayers better grab a clue if they want to get a handle on property taxes and how that money funds the salary of these Bozos posing as community servants. Paying the salary of people out destroying that which they are charged with protecting and securing gets real expensive when under the phony constitutional right to be wicked and incompetent. Sue the absolute pants off these Bozo public servants in CIVIL COURT. Tax payers should not have to pay costs for the deeds of BAD public servants.
These tax paid public servants laying waste to honorable public servants ain’t going to understand till THEIR character and financial security rice bowl gets broken for doing wicked and incompetent deeds while drawing a tax payer funded salary and pension.
Each time the (D)irtbag coalition loses a presidential election, I pay attention to who around me seems to become very angry – it’s a good chance to spot who the incipient tyrants are.
After Hillary’s loss, what I noticed was a lot of REALLY, REALLY angry women. The (D)irtbag / (D)umbcluck coalition created sexist anger to propel that cloaca’s candidacy to match what they did with Obama’s.
Obama taught me (and many others) that the hatefulness of blacks has become intolerable, Hillary would have done the same for gender relations. Nice work, (D)irtbags.
In continuing my point about the tax payers getting the shaft both ways —paying the salaries of wicked and incompetent public servants whose deeds in their position are a “protected right” also paid for by the taxpayer —-consider the cost to taxpayers as Peter Stzok, Andy McCabe, and James Comey sue US for wrongful termination. Nothing comes from these creeps pockets…they are billing the taxpayer the whole freight. PLUS…these creeps also are protected from investigation into the very reason for which they were fired because of the creep’s taxpayer funded lawsuit.
It’s like Tx Gov Gregg Abbot’s lawsuit against the sanctuary city of San Antonio —-the tax payer pays for ALL the legal bills….and when the corrupt lawlessness such nimrods in positions of authority empowered by such a con game collides with some innocent citizen’s life…the citizen has to deal with that destruction on their own, I hate it when that dogma knife slices both ways against the taxpayer. That’s pure loss on the community balance sheet. That’s why Communism creates poverty and destruction.
Hold the elected school board members or elected city council members who hire ISD administrators or city managers accountable for the deeds of these public employees. It’s a Common Sense MORAL foundation. Paying the salary of a public servant turning the community into a cesspit is not in ANYONE’s well-being…and there is no constitutional right that requires the tax paying community to do so.