The Idaho Transportation Department has issued the following statement on a federal judge's ruling over the weekend in favor of fired former ITD Director Pam Lowe:

“The department is disappointed in the ruling and will consider an appeal. Based on this ruling, the next step is to determine whether or not the Idaho Transportation Board provided due process to Ms. Lowe. The ruling does not address claims of gender discrimination and wrongful firing. No schedule has been set by the court to hear these claims.”

“I am absolutely elated,” fired former ITD Director Pam Lowe said this morning, after a federal judge sided with her over the weekend in a key ruling in her wrongful termination lawsuit. “It absolutely vindicated me and what I had been saying, and that is that the board was happy with my work, I had done a good job, I had had nothing but positive comments from the board as well as certainly my formal evaluations, but that the board succumbed to political blackmail and pressure from John McGee when he ran that bill.”

McGee, then chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, introduced legislation in 2009 to strip the Idaho Transportation Board of the ability to hire and fire the director, though the bill didn't pass. “He was interested in helping his campaign contributors,” Lowe said, “and I didn't want to do what he wanted done with that contract, which was to throw a bunch more money at them that didn't need to happen, and he ran that bill to strip the board of their powers.” McGee, who resigned from the Senate this year in the wake of sexual harassment allegations from a female Senate staffer, couldn't immediately be reached for comment; you can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

In 2009, a multimillion-dollar contract with two Idaho firms to oversee major bonded highway construction projects in the state was being cut back; the lead firm, URS, formerly Washington Group, was a big donor to Gov. Butch Otter's election campaigns, as well as to McGee's. Lowe said the governor's chief of staff pressured her not to reduce the contract, and McGee's bill was in response to her move.

“I had more than one board member tell me that it was McGee and it was blackmail,” she said. “They had no reason other than pure politics to terminate me.” She added, “It was purely political reasons, and it was certainly not one of the four reasons that the judge has said needed to happen in order for a proper termination to occur.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ron Bush has ruled in favor of fired ITD Director Pam Lowe on a key point in her wrongful-firing case: That she wasn't an “at-will” employee who could be dismissed without cause. It's a significant win for Lowe, who contends her firing came because she tried to scale back a big contract with a politically well-connected firm; that she was fired without cause and without being allowed a hearing; and that she was discriminated against because she's female. She was the first woman to head the Idaho Transportation Department; she since has been replaced by a man who is being paid $22,000 a year more than she made.

The judge's ruling, issued Saturday, opens the way for consideration of the gender-bias and political pressure claims.

At issue was the 1974 law creating the ITD director's position, saying, “The director shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance or nonfeasance in office.”

The department didn't cite any of the four reasons from the law in firing Lowe. Instead, the ITD board said in 2009, that Lowe's firing would “help the department continue improving customer service, economy of operations, accountability and our relations with the Legislature.” In court documents, the state contended Lowe was fired for not adequately dealing with the Legislature, which it said meant she was doing a poor job despite good reviews for her internal management of the department. You can read the judge's 57-page decision here.

Here's a news item from the Associated Press:  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A former Idaho Transportation Department director was asked to resign in 2006 following a whistleblower complaint, a detail hidden from the public until court documents were released last week in a separate case. The papers, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, reveal circumstances of how former director David Ekern exited his job in August 2006. That month, Ekern said he was quitting to pursue “significant career opportunities.” But a whistleblower complaint from March 2006 alleged Ekern engaged in favoritism and “misuse of power and authority,” prompting Transportation Board members to vote in secret session to remove him. Members then gave Ekern “the opportunity to gracefully leave ITD.” The documents, filed by ex-ITD Director Pamela Lowe, Ekern's successor, seek to bolster her claim that she was illegally fired in 2009. You can read the full story here at spokesman.com.

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on U.S. Magistrate Judge Ron Bush’s preliminary ruling in favor of fired Idaho Transportation Director Pam Lowe on a key point underpinning her wrongful-firing lawsuit, her argument that she wasn’t an “at-will” employee who could be dismissed without cause, as the state alleges.

Lowe contends her firing came because she tried to scale back a big contract with politically well-connected firms; that she was fired without cause and without being allowed a hearing; and that she was discriminated against because she’s female. She was the first woman to head the Idaho Transportation Department; she’s since been replaced by a man who’s being paid $22,000 a year more than she made.

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press:  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A federal judge has sided with former Idaho Transportation Department Director Pamela Lowe in a proposed ruling, setting the stage for her wrongful firing lawsuit against the state to proceed. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush says he’s giving Lowe and the Idaho Transportation Department until Jan. 14 to submit additional information that could alter the outcome. Bush indicated in the proposed decision late Wednesday that the Idaho Transportation Board was limited to firing Lowe for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance or non-feasance.” The department’s lawyers argued Lowe could be fired for any reason. Lowe contends she was dismissed in July 2009 for political reasons, not for the four reasons outlined in Idaho law. Bush found evidence to conclude the Idaho Legislature provided guidelines governing when Transportation board members could fire a director to protect the agency’s leader from political pressure.

You can read the Request for Additional Briefing and Proposed Memorandum Decision and Order here.

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on developments in the Pam Lowe case today, in which the former ITD director is suing the state in federal court, alleging wrongful firing; meanwhile, the Idaho Transportation Department acknowledged that a controversial management contract that Lowe contends she was fired for trying to scale back has now swelled to $85 million.

The contract with Connecting Idaho Partners - the one that former ITD Director Pam Lowe contends played a key role in her firing - is now up to $85 million, according to the Idaho Transportation Department. The department signed an additional contract with the group, which consists of CH2M Hill and URS Corp., formerly Washington Group, in April for $14 million for management work related to the next $228 million worth of GARVEE bonds, which finance highway projects by borrowing against future federal highway payouts. In June of 2008, ITD signed another $26 million contract with CIP, that time to oversee $250 million in bonds; and the original contract, issued in August of 2006 and originally envisioned to total $52 million, ended up at $45 million after various reductions. That was for startup of the program and overseeing the first $215 million in bonding.

“We made reductions where possible,” said Jeff Stratten, ITD spokesman, noting that $7 million in work was pulled from the first contract and handed back over to ITD staff. The second contract, in 2008, started around $30 million, but was scaled back the same way to $26 million. “We’re following the legislative intent by bringing as much work back to ITD as possible,” Stratten said.

Connecting Idaho Partners won the huge management contract after a contentious process that saw an unsuccessful bidder crying foul; Lowe contends in her wrongful-firing lawsuit that she was pressured by the Otter Administration when she tried to cut back the contract with the politically well-connected firms, and then fired. The administration has denied her claims.

The three contracts ITD has signed with Connecting Idaho Partners cover a total of $693 million in bonding; the entire Connecting Idaho program, first promoted by then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as a way to do 30 years worth of highway projects in just 10 years, originally was estimated at $998 million, but Stratten said cost savings and other cutbacks have lowered that to closer to $900 million. He said it’s not clear whether another contract still would be signed with CIP, but the final phase of Connecting Idaho would be mostly construction, which the department tends to manage in-house. “It’s yet to be determined if another one is required,” he said, noting that it’s up to the Legislature to authorize bonding each year. “If CIP’s services were required, it would likely be less than the $14 million of the latest contract, but that’s yet to be determined.”

Federal Magistrate Judge Ron Bush raised questions at a court hearing today about whether fired ITD Director Pam Lowe actually was a classified state employee entitled to specific hearings and appeals; whether her lawyers’ arguments in her wrongful-firing case would have entitled her to serve in the position for life; and whether the question of if Lowe was an at-will employee or not should be referred back to the Idaho Supreme Court - a move that could delay the case for years.

The judge’s questions came up during a federal court hearing today on Lowe’s motion to decide a key point in her case now - whether the state’s transportation director is an at-will employee who can be fired for any reason or no reason. That’s the position the state has taken in the case. A specific state law says the transportation director “shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance or nonfeasance in office.” None of those grounds was cited when the Idaho Transportation Board fired Lowe last year; she’s charged that she was ousted for trying to scale back a big contract with politically well-connected firms; that she was fired without cause and without being allowed a hearing; and that she was discriminated against because of her gender, as the department’s first female director. Lowe has since been replaced by a man who’s being paid $22,000 a year more than she made.

B. Newal Squyres, a private attorney representing the state, told the court that the four reasons in the law are just examples of why a director can be fired. “They provide some guidance, they provide some examples, they counsel the board that the director is performance-based, but they’re not a limit on the board’s authority,” he told the court. The Legislature’s Statement of Purpose for the 1974 law, he said, is “irrelevant” because “it’s not in the statute.” The Statement of Purpose, which Lowe’s attorney, Erika Birch, submitted to the court to bolster her argument, says the director “shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board only for stated cause.”

Lowe said after the hearing, “I thought Erika’s argument was really compelling. Clearly, the judge wanted to hear and gather a lot of information, which I thought was positive.”

Birch argued that grounds for dismissing the transportation director - which aren’t found in the laws about any other state department heads - were designed specifically to “provide at least one level of political insulation between the governor and the director.” The judge said if the director doesn’t violate the four grounds, “Is that person entitled to serve for life in that position then?”  “I think they are,” Birch responded. “I think the Legislature was singling out this position to give them a potential lifetime or until-retirement security in their position … unless those specific grounds are found.” She added that directors in the past have been removed only for cause. “We know that directors have traditionally held long tenures with the department.”
 
Neither side contended that Lowe was a classified employee subject to the state’s civil-service rules, but Judge Bush said he wasn’t convinced she wasn’t. “You may be comfortable” that she wasn’t, Bush told lawyers on both sides, “but I don’t know that I’m comfortable. … Then we have a whole different ballgame.” He also noted the possibility of referring the at-will question to the Idaho Supreme Court, though both sides said they thought the case was properly before the federal court, and Birch said such a move would “significantly delay this case by years.” Bush responded, “I’ve considered that, and that’s part of what I’m weighing.” He took the motion under advisement and will issue his ruling in writing.

Fired ITD Director Pam Lowe has filed her response to the state’s arguments against granting the core  of her wrongful-firing claims in a partial judgment, and Lowe’s lawyers contend the state’s arguments misconstrued case law, overlooked clear rulings from the Idaho Supreme Court that an employee isn’t considered “at-will” if the law limits the reasons for which she can be fired, and failed to address the Legislature’s Statement of Purpose for the 1974 law that says an ITD director “shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance or nonfeasance in office.” The original SOP, submitted to the court earlier by Lowe’s lawyers, says the director “shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board only for stated cause.”

The board cited none of those reasons when it fired Lowe, instead saying her firing would improve “customer service, economy of operations, accountability and our relations with the Legislature.” Lowe contends she was fired for refusing to scale back a hefty contract with politically well-connected firms and that she was targeted for her gender; she was the first woman to head the department, and has now been replaced by a man who’s being paid $22,000 a year more than she was. The state has argued she was merely an “at-will” employee and could be fired at any time, for any reason or no reason, with no required hearings or other steps. It’s contended the list of reasons for firing the director are merely examples. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Ron Bush has scheduled arguments on Lowe’s motion - which centers on the “at-will” issue - for July. You can read Lowe’s response here; it was filed today.

The state has filed its response to fired Idaho Transportation Director Pam Lowe’s motion for a federal court to rule in her favor on most of her key claims in her wrongful-firing case without holding further hearings. In a 23-page memorandum in opposition to Lowe’s motion, filed Thursday night just before a midnight deadline, attorney B. Newal Squyres argued that Lowe’s attorneys misconstrued a long string of cases they cited to back Lowe’s argument that she wasn’t an “at-will” employee. Squyres argued instead that she actually was an “at-will” employee who could be fired at any time, without cause and with no requirement for hearings or other due process.

At issue is an Idaho state law that says, “The director shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance or nonfeasance in office.” The state contends the “at the pleasure of the board” part is the key part, and the listed reasons for dismissal are mere examples; Lowe argues that at least one of the listed reasons must be cited to fire an ITD director. Her attorneys submitted the Legislature’s original Statement of Purpose for the 1974 law, which states that the director “shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board only for stated cause.” Squyres, in his filing, dismissed that in a footnote as “a single page … with the handwritten notation of ‘S 1295’ at the bottom of the document.” You can read the full memorandum here, and click below for more on this story.

Lawyers for fired Idaho Transportation Director Pam Lowe are pushing for a decision in her favor on most of her key claims without even holding further hearings - based on a long string of cases they’ve identified that back Lowe’s argument that she wasn’t an “at-will” employee, as the state contends in defending her firing. Among documents filed in the federal court case Monday was the official “Statement of Purpose” for the 1974 law that created the transportation director’s post. It states that the director “shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board only for stated cause.”

The law itself says, “The director shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance or nonfeasance in office.” The state contends that those reasons are just examples, and the important part is “at the pleasure.” But in a motion for partial judgment filed Monday, Lowe’s attorneys say the history shows otherwise. “This statement of purpose … could not be a clearer indication of the legislature’s intent to limit the board’s discretion in removing the director only for good cause,” the lawyers argued in court documents. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com; and you can read Lowe’s motion here and the supporting memorandum here.

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the state’s response to fired ITD Director Pam Lowe’s wrongful-termination lawsuit. The state filed its response over the weekend; it was filed by Newal Squyres of the Boise law firm Holland & Hart, who is the current president of the Idaho State Bar. He’s been designated by the state as a special deputy attorney general to handle Lowe’s lawsuit, which charges political pressure, sex discrimination and more in her dismissal; she was ITD’s first female director.

The state of Idaho contends that the four grounds for dismissal of the state’s transportation director listed in state law are mere “examples,” and the state can fire its transportation director for any reason or no reason at all. “Although the statute provides examples of reasons for which the Director ‘may be removed by the board,’ including inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance or nonfeasance, these terms are not a limitation on the board’s authority and do not alter the fact that Plaintiff served ‘at the pleasure of the board,’ ” the state argues in its response to a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed in federal court by former Idaho Transportation Department Director Pam Lowe.

The law, Idaho Code 40-503, states, “The director shall serve at the pleasure of the board and may be removed by the board for inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance or nonfeasance in office.” Legal experts told The Spokesman-Review in August that Idaho’s law is contradictory, but suggests the four grounds are the only reasons a director may be fired.

Lowe has alleged she was fired, despite positive performance reviews, for resisting pressure to favor a politically well-connected contractor who was a big contributor to Gov. Butch Otter, and was discriminated against for her gender; she was the department’s first female director. Her suit notes that the board decided to pay her male replacement $22,000 a year more than it paid her. The board didn’t cite any of the four statutory reasons in dismissing Lowe, instead saying her firing would “help the department continue improving customer service, economy of operations, accountability and our relations with the Legislature.” Click below to read more.

Former Idaho Transportation Director Pam Lowe, whose wrongful-termination lawsuit against the state is now pending in federal court, filed an amended claim today adding an additional “claim for relief” to her case, which already charged sex discrimination, political pressure, due process violations and more: That the state hired a male to replace her and decided to pay him $22,000 a year more. “By paying Plaintiff at a rate less than her male replacement for substantially equal work on a job requiring substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility under similar work conditions, Defendants violated the EPA (Equal Protection Act),” the claim states. “Because Defendants paid her less than it paid her male replacement, Ms. Lowe has suffered and will continue to suffer economic losses.”

Lowe charges she was fired for refusing to yield to pressure to favor a politically well-connected contractor, and also was discriminated against for her gender; she was the state’s first female transportation director. You can read her amended federal court claim here.

Fired ITD Director Pam Lowe’s wrongful-termination lawsuit against the state is being removed to federal court, as a result of a move by the state of Idaho today. The state’s appointed special deputy attorney general for the case, attorney B. Newal Squyres of the firm Holland & Hart, filed the required notice today in state 4th District Court to move the case up to federal court. Squyres called the move “standard practice,” because the plaintiffs filed claims under federal law. The state had the option of either defending the case in 4th District Court or removing it to federal court.

Lowe, in her lawsuit, charges sex discrimination, political pressure and cronyism, and says she was fired without cause, despite positive performance reviews, for resisting pressure to favor a politically well-connected contractor. She was the department’s first female director. Her lawsuit alleges violations of her rights under both the state and federal constitutions.

Lowe’s attorney, Erika Birch, said, “We’re just anxious to get the case moving forward, whether it be in state court or federal court.”

Former Idaho Transportation Director Pam Lowe, in an interview with NPR Boise State Radio’s Don Wimberly, talked about her dispute with the state over her firing - a dispute that’s resulted in a wrongful-termination lawsuit - and her reasons for going public over the dispute. “I think the citizens and the taxpayers need to know what’s going on - that is my primary motivation,” Lowe told Wimberly. “I’ve been damaged, so they might as well at this point, they  might as well hear what happened. My reputation, when I was terminated or forced out, was damaged. So at this point I’m somewhat clearing my name by letting people know, hey, here’s what really was going on. Plus, the taxpayers just need to have a light shine on what’s going on behind the closed doors in our government.”

Lowe maintains she was fired for trying to cut back or eliminate a pricey state contract with a politically well-connected contractor. Her lawsuit also alleges sex discrimination and more; she was the department’s first female director. “At some point you have to do the right thing, and to me going public and letting people know what was happening and what is happening is the right thing to do,” she told Wimberly. You can listen to the full interview here.

ITD said today that the reason it’ll pay new Director Brian Ness $22,000 a year more than fired Director Pam Lowe is because it negotiated a salary designed to be a substantial increase from Ness’ current salary in Michigan, after accounting for higher costs of living he’ll face in Idaho. “Salary of the department’s director is negotiable,” said ITD spokesman Jeff Stratten. “Pam received promotional increases as her responsibility within the organization grew.” Lowe, whose wrongful termination lawsuit against the state alleges sex discrimination and other charges, made $143,000 a year; Ness will make $165,000. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

ITD has corrected the salary figure it supplied to Eye on Boise late yesterday for new Idaho Transportation Director Brian Ness - it’s not $160,000 a year, it’s $165,000. That makes it $22,000 more than the salary paid to the previous director, Pam Lowe.

Idaho’s new state transportation director, Brian Ness, will be paid $160,000 a year, ITD reports. That’s $17,000 more a year than the salary of the previous director, Pam Lowe, who made $143,000.