Public Workers Have Right to Speak Out : Lawsuit by Demoted Official Who Talked to Reporter Brings Up Disturbing Questions

A lawsuit filed by a former top-ranking Orange County official has raised disturbing issues of free speech and the public’s right to know how government operates.

Former County Finance Director Eileen T. Walsh filed the lawsuit, charging that she was demoted to a job paying 30% less because she told the truth to a Times reporter about alleged improper dealings between investment firms and county government.

Walsh is a veteran county employee. After the county filed for bankruptcy in December 1994, the county’s interim chief administrative officer, Tom Uram, placed Walsh on administrative leave and then transferred her to the lower-paying job in the Integrated Waste Management Department.

The transfer upset several people who thought Walsh had done a good job for the county. Supervisor Marian Bergeson asked Uram’s successor, William J. Popejoy, to reinstate Walsh, but to no avail.

There are many valid reasons for demoting, transferring or firing employees. Orange County will get its chance in court to explain its treatment of Walsh and to answer her additional allegations that she was the victim of sexual harassment and discrimination.

But it is troubling to hear Walsh complain in her lawsuit that she was demoted for talking to a reporter for an article examining how financial firms donated money to the campaigns of local officials who decide which companies to hire for government bond issues.

Walsh said after the article appeared, Supervisor Roger R. Stanton demanded that she retract her statement. When she refused, she was demoted by Uram, according to the lawsuit. Uram said he could not comment on litigation, though he previously denied the county discriminated against Walsh. Stanton said through his attorney that he did not demand a retraction by Walsh and he had nothing to do with getting someone on a list approved to handle bond issues.

While waiting for the courts to sort out the facts in this case, Orange County officials should remember, and reassure their workers, that public employees have a constitutional right to free speech and that the public, whose taxes finance government and its workers, has a right to be told how its money is being spent.