The decision by Cascade County to pay Rina Moore $52,500 shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. It isn’t because of the “nuisance value” of making her political belief discrimination complaint go away. It’s because anyone with any experience in employment law could see the county was going to lose this lawsuit and the liability was going to be much, much bigger as time went on.
Here is What the County’s Lawyer Said
Consider this statement by the outside counsel, Jordan Crosby, hired by the county. She explained the process of the State Human Rights Bureau’s (HRB) investigation. The HRB investigator can issue a “reasonable cause” finding that indicates the investigator believes discrimination occurred.
“But there were a lot of concerns related to some of the things that happened during that hiring, and they continued to keep coming back to those. and from my experience, which my background is, I defend these cases all across the State of Montana. When you’re getting those kind of comments from the investigator during the process. It is likely you’re going to be getting a cause finding. and, as we know, with the cause finding that sends us down the route of a lengthy public hearing process through the Hearings office and why that is important is there can be significant damages awarded.”
She went on to explain,
“But there were some facts that I think definitely caused me concern that we would get a reasonable cause finding.”
She concluded,
“In the grand scheme of this case. It is actually, I think, very relatively minimal of what the county would ultimately pay.”
To see the video of the entire meeting follow the below link.
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/xU0sslgc5HBug36-NZ3PaY71YeqxQNqHo1pGOG__2GPQ8VF8Ur7jEi9bSOLKlpeqnma_gZg8vF1PtLwS.bfyDUC6CADnzuFrB?canPlayFromShare=true&from=share_recording_detail&continueMode=true&componentName=rec-play&originRequestUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Frec%2Fshare%2FJBrauA95qYNX55Nuo8eGcKcT1MguoYI-MH4FP6TlTgbG25bG_LWZejO3y1UuOVoz.QUNAspf-xCtz9BJa
Anyone With Any Sense Knows
I worked as an investigator for the State Human Rights Commission in the 1980s. During that time I investigated hundreds of discrimination complaints. I then worked for the Montana Office of Public Instruction as the Personnel Director. I was responsible for administering and overseeing hiring processes, similar to the “structured” hiring process which was used by Cascade County in hiring the new administrator in the elections department, Terry Thompson.
I watched the interview process for the selection of the elections administrator on the internet. I also reviewed the scoring system used by the county and the individual scores by each of the county commissioners. By any measure, Rina Moore, with16 years applicable experience and relevant education and training, was the most qualified applicant. Instead the job was given to Terry Thompson who has no direct experience, education or training. The whole system was obviously subverted by Rae Grulkowski’s manipulation of the scoring system Check out our previous post on the hiring process. https://wtf406.com/2024/03/grulkowski-plays-dirty-did-we-really-expect-anything-else/
It shouldn’t have surprised anyone when Rina Moore filed a discrimination complaint against the county, after the way she was treated in the hiring process. It also shouldn’t surprise anyone when an experienced outside counsel urged the county to settle the case.
Secretary of State is Up Next
Rina Moore also filed a discrimination complaint against Montana Secretary of State, Christi Jacobsen. The complaint alleges that Jacobsen discriminated against her by sending a letter to the county commission urging them not to hire her. The smart money says Jacobsen will be writing a check to Moore as well. Stay tuned.
As stated above, Rae Grulkowski “subverted” the hiring of an election administrator for Cascade County.
She is running a write-in campaign for county commissioner and if she is successful she will continue to subvert the operations of Cascade County.
And remember, it isn’t Rae Grulkowski or Christi Jacobsen writing those checks, it is you the citizen taxpayers footing those bills.
Rina had a rock solid discrimination case, but hiring her would have also been a terrible choice given the backlash and how controversial it was to take away Sandra Mercant’s duties. There was no legal way to choose a compromise candidate that would avoid the accusations that Briggs and Larson were “subverting the will of the voters” by reinstating the person that lost the election while also not violating employment law. That’s unfortunate, because it puts us in a situation where Larson and Briggs would have been better off not removing Sandra Merchant from elections. Doing so put them between a rock and a hard place, where they either get sued by Rina (costing taxpayers money) or they get accused of overturning elections. They did the right thing. We shouldn’t elect the election administrator. They should be chosen based on qualifications. But choosing someone who previously ran when it was a political position, no matter how qualified, was never going to satisfy people.
Thanks for your comment and I see your point. But the law is not a popularity contest. There are plenty of people who support Rina Moore and even more who want to see our elections run competently and fairly. Sandra Merchant was failing to meet minimum standards for administering elections which was resulting in dissatisfaction and litigation. The Commission decision was unpopular with a faction of people who are part of a movement to destabilize our elections. They are vocal but don’t represent any form of community consensus. (Grulkowski lost her republican primary race and Merchant lost her bid to be a republican precinct woman.) Ken
You’re right that the law is not a popularity contest. However, the position of county commissioner is. Jim Larson and Joe Briggs were not required by law to remove Sandra Merchant from her position. They did it because it was the right thing to do, even when it wasn’t a popular decision with their base (as evidenced by the hours long public comment on the action). Then they had to appoint a new election administrator, which if Rina was selected, would have been another strike against Larson and Briggs with their base. My point was more that I don’t expect moderate Republicans to do the right next time they have the opportunity.