A former deputy prosecutor is expected to file a claim for damages against Island County, saying that politicking before the November election led to a hostile work environment in the county prosecutor’s office.
A damage claim is a necessary first step before a lawsuit can be filed.
Former deputy prosecuting attorney Amy Dempsey will be filing a whistle-blower complaint against the prosecutor’s office and a claim for financial damages, said Peter Moote.
Moote, a Freeland attorney who is representing Dempsey, said his client was pressured from her first day on the job to support Prosecutor Greg Banks’ bid for reelection last year.
“Amy made it clear from the beginning she did not want anything to do with the political process,” Moote said. “She wanted to remain neutral and do her job.”
Dempsey no longer works for Island County. Banks did not keep her on staff after she failed to return to work after Election Day.
Banks disputed the claim that there was a hostile work environment in the prosecutor’s office in the months before the election.
“There was no hostile work environment. This is a good office to work in, for those that want to work here,” Banks said.
Dempsey worked for the prosecutor’s office for five months. She was hired
June 7, 2006.
Claim comes after
blistering campaign
Banks was re-elected to his third term as county prosecutor in November after a bitter battle against Steve Selby.
Selby, a Republican, was a deputy prosecutor in the prosecutor’s office but was fired after he announced his bid for Island County prosecutor in April 2006.
Dempsey supported Selby’s campaign. She did not show up for work on Election Day.
Banks said she just stopped coming to work.
“She never returned to work. I need a fully staffed office to serve the public and make sure criminals are prosecuted,” Banks said.
The day after the election, the county received a letter from her doctor that said Dempsey needed to take medical leave.
The following day, on Nov. 9, her lawyer faxed her doctor’s letter to the county again, and the following week, on Nov. 14, he sent a letter with another doctor’s statement requesting a medical leave.
Dempsey was not eligible for medical leave, however, because of her short employment tenure with the county. Employees must work for the county for one year before they are eligible to take leave under the county’s family medical leave policy.
County commissioners granted Dempsey a “leave of absence” from work instead on Nov. 20.
Through her attorney, Dempsey said she was pressured from her first day at work to support Banks in his reelection bid.
Moote said he planned on filing an administrative complaint against the county on Friday that will allege Banks wrongfully terminated her, violated her constitutional rights to free speech, inflicted emotion distress, created a hostile work environment, tried to pressure her into supporting him in the election and retaliated against her whistle-blower complaint. A copy of the complaint was not available before The Record went to press.
Banks said that he couldn’t comment on leave or medical issues except to say that the board of Island County commissioners approved a leave of absence for Dempsey through Dec. 11.
Banks also said he couldn’t comment on any specifics of Dempsey’s complaint since it didn’t yet exist. He denied that he ever pressured Dempsey to support him in the election.
“At no time did I pressure any deputy prosecutor to support me politically. In fact, most of them supported my opponent,” Banks said.
Banks said he had no choice but to fire Dempsey because she stopped coming to work on Nov. 7, the day of the election.
Banks also said he reappointed attorneys who opposed him.
“I did not ask any deputy prosecutor to resign. I reappointed deputies who opposed me in the election, but who also indicated a desire to continue as my deputies and who continued to come to work,” Banks said.
The prosecutor’s race was easily the most divisive race on the ballot during last year’s election.
Selby harshly criticized Banks’ management style, his demeanor and his work load. And Selby’s campaign crowed when it locked up the endorsements from most of Selby’s deputy prosecutors.
Other workers in the prosecutor’s office rallied to Bank’s side, though.
Moote says Dempsey was subjected to political harassment from her first day on the job.
“Mr. Banks and a senior deputy in his office were pressuring her to get involved in the campaign and all she wanted to do was stay neutral,” Moote said.
Banks strongly disputed the claim.
“They were free to support either candidate, or neither candidate,” Banks said.
Regardless, prosecutors routinely expect their deputies to support the prosecutor’s office and its policies.
Banks said the elected prosecutor is chosen by the voters to be the people’s attorney in criminal cases and is given discretion, by law, to appoint deputies.
“Deputy prosecutors are only authorized to speak and act in the name of, and on behalf of, the elected prosecutor,” Banks said.
“Our courts have acknowledged the importance of loyalty to elected prosecutors because of this special relationship,” he said.
Moote said Banks did not outright threaten to fire Dempsey.
“There was an implied threat that if she didn’t support Greg in the election, she would lose her job. And that actually came true. She didn’t support him and he fired her the first time he got a chance,” Moote said.
Moote took issue with Banks’ claim that he expects the loyalty of his deputy prosecutors.
“Amy never expressed any disloyalty. She just wanted to remain politically neutral, which is her right,” Moote said.
Dempsey did, however, publicly support Selby during the election.
An advertisement praising Selby appeared in The South Whidbey Record and The Whidbey News-Times in the Nov. 1 and Nov. 4 issues that was topped with Dempsey’s name and the names of other deputy prosecutors who supported Selby.
Moote said Dempsey did not initially want to file a claim against Island County.
“We have attempted to resolve this amicably with Island County, but they don’t seem interested,” Moote added.
Moote claims that Dempsey began the whistle-blower complaint process in November.
“The first step in filing a whistle-blower complaint is to file an improper governmental conduct statement. She did that on Nov. 3 against the prosecutor’s office,” Moote said.
According to public records obtained from Island County,
Dempsey sent Commissioner Mike Shelton an e-mail on Nov. 3 that complained “extremely inappropriate (and illegal) behavior” by Banks and Chief Criminal Deputy Andrea Vingo. The e-mail was not titled as either a whistle-blower complaint nor an improper governmental conduct statement, however.
Dempsey wrote that she had been pressured and threatened by Banks and Vingo to contact a newspaper and support Banks.
“I have repeatedly stated that I wanted to be left out of both Mr. Banks and Mr. Selby’s campaign. While Selby was happy to leave me out of it, Mr. Banks and Ms. Vingo continued to pressure me,” Dempsey wrote in her e-mail to Shelton.
In her e-mail, Dempsey said she had gotten a call and was told Vingo had written a letter about Dempsey to a newspaper. She said she called the editor of the Whidbey News-Times and told him nothing in the letter was true, and it was never printed.
“Subsequently, I called Mr. Banks and Ms. Vingo and left messages on their machines telling them how furious I was. Mr. Banks called me back on Saturday and left a message that said in part: ‘I knew nothing about it and I know said you (sic) wanted to stay out of this, sorry about that.’ He was heard later that night after the debates touting that letter as true,” Dempsey wrote in her e-mail.
Vingo also e-mailed the letter mentioned by Dempsey to the The South Whidbey Record.
While the letter did mention deputy prosecutors in the office, none were mentioned by name. Vingo disputed claims made by Selby during the campaign that morale was suffering in the prosecutor’s office under Banks’ leadership.
When the letter was not immediately published by either Whidbey newspaper, Vingo paid for a shortened version of the letter to be published as an advertisement. The ad appeared in The Whidbey News-Times on Oct. 21.
Moote said Dempsey finally joined with other deputy prosecutors in giving Selby her support because Banks was disregarding her right to free speech.
“Her freedom of speech was violated because they tried to compel her to take a stand politically for Banks. The statutes are clear that employees cannot be forced to take a political stand,” Moote said.
Besides Dempsey, two other deputy prosecutors who publicly supported Selby during the election are no longer working for the county.
Kyle Moore left for a higher paying job in the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office. Moore will be paid a salary of $52,692; he earned an annual salary of $49,263 last year with Island County.
Margot Carter quit in December after 14 years as a deputy prosecutor. She is now working with former prosecutor Bill Hawkins in Oak Harbor. Carter, who supported Banks in 2002 election, had handled juvenile cases for the county.
Carter said she will be making less money in private practice than she did at the county, but declined to say how much she will earn.
Carter said it was a difficult decision to leave because she loved her job. She said the office became very uncomfortable after the election.
“The day after the election during the attorney’s meeting, Banks made it very clear he expected us to resign. He was very aggressive in his manner when he told us to resign, and that we should not rely on him for recommendations,” she said.
Gayle Saran can be reached at 221-5300 or gsaran@southwhidbeyrecord.com.
