Judge Sides With Sweetser Over Firings Prosecutor Had Authority To Fire Deputies, Even If It Was A Political Decision

Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney Jim Sweetser had authority to fire two deputy prosecutors, even if it was a political decision, a judge ruled Tuesday.

“There are a certain limited number of public officials who may be relieved of their positions for solely political reasons,” said Adams County Superior Court Judge Richard Miller.

Michelle Solinsky and Jennifer Boharski sued to get their jobs back, alleging they had been fired because they wouldn’t join a union and hadn’t supported Sweetser’s election in November.

Miller, who was brought in to hear the case because it involved the Spokane County government, said the women had failed to prove their allegations. And it wouldn’t have mattered if they had, he said.

Deputy prosecutors, because they speak for the prosecutor in court, do not have the same protection from political firings as office staff and other lowerlevel employees do, Miller said.

Nor did it matter whether Sweetser had promised during his campaign not to fire anyone without just cause, the judge said. Sweetser testified that he never had made the promise; several witnesses said he repeatedly had.

“It’s somewhat ludicrous … to assume that a court will somehow enforce campaign promises,” Miller said. “The remedy is for the voters to take care of it in the next election.”

Miller also said he could find “absolutely no evidence” to support the deputy prosecutors’ claims that their firings had amounted to gender bias.

Sweetser testified Friday that he had fired the pair because their rudeness and work habits had brought down morale, because he didn’t think they would be good “team players” and because of Solinsky’s unexcused absences.

Miller said he believes the pair was partly to blame for low morale in the prosecutor’s office. Sweetser, Miller said, had three options when he replaced Don Brockett as prosecutor:

Fire Solinsky and Boharski, fire several employees who said they couldn’t work with the pair or “do nothing and inherit the problems that were in the office under Mr. Brockett’s watch.”

Carl Maxey, an attorney for Boharski and Solinsky, said he doesn’t know whether the women would appeal the decision.

The judge’s ruling calls into question Sweetser’s firing of Dorothy Scott and Tana Jenecke, Maxey said.

Scott ran a victims assistance program and Jenecke was an administrative assistant. Neither position falls under Miller’s definition of positions subject to political firings, Maxey said.

Miller rejected Sweetser’s request that he order Boharski and Solinsky to pay his attorney fees. That means county taxpayers will pay for defending the prosecutor.

“I’m assuming it’s in excess of $20,000,” said Sweetser’s attorney, Terrence Lackie.