Sweetser Defends Firings Ex-Workers Say Politics Motivated Dismissals

Spokane County’s newly elected prosecutor took the witness stand Friday to contradict critics who said he fired two deputy prosecutors for political reasons.

What’s more, said Jim Sweetser, he never promised during last year’s election that he would only fire employees for just cause. Witnesses who testified otherwise were misinformed, inaccurate or have ulterior motives, he said.

Sweetser said he fired Jennifer Boharski for being rude to colleagues, police and himself, for bringing down morale, and because she wasn’t a “team player.”

He said he fired Michelle Solinsky for similar reasons, as well as poor attendance.

“We found that there were 20 unaccountable absences” on Solinsky’s record in 1993, Sweetser said.

The two women, who are suing to get back their jobs, say they were fired because they supported Sweetser’s campaign opponent and refused to join the prosecutor’s office union.

In testimony that contradicted earlier witnesses, Sweetser said:

It’s “an absolute lie” that he called Boharski a “bitch,” as she claims.

Spokesman-Review reporter William Miller was “inaccurate” when he testified that Sweetser made a campaign issue of allowing only “just-cause” firings.

Attorney James Barlow probably was motivated by anger to testify that Sweetser repeatedly told him during the campaign that he would implement a “just-cause” policy.

Barlow, who feels he was unjustly fired from the prosecutor’s office in 1992, worked on Sweetser’s campaign and called the new prosecutor a friend. He acknowledged, however, that he was angry the prosecutor’s office recently dropped assault charges against a man who beat him up.

Sweetser did not offer Barlow a job after the election, as Barlow testified.

He did not tell Barlow before the election that he would fire five employees.

Barlow said the list included Boharski, Solinsky and Cliff Collier, an office administrator who lost his job shortly after the election.

Collier misunderstood if he thought his job would be safe if Sweetser won the election.

Collier said colleagues warned him Sweetser was going to fire him because of his loyalty to former Prosecutor Don Brockett, who supported Sweetser’s campaign opponent. But, Collier said, Sweetser told him before the election “that we were going to be a close-knit team.”

Sweetser said he was part of a committee that decided to fire Collier, who has a master’s degree in business, and hire a retired Air Force administrator with a bachelor’s degree. The committee felt the veteran had better managerial and communications skills, he said.

“It was a very difficult decision because Cliff had worked in the organization. I personally like Cliff,” said Sweetser, adding that he helped Collier get his current job at Geiger Correctional Center.

Deputy prosecutors Dianne Dougherty and Mark Laimanger corraborated many of Sweetser’s statements about Solinsky’s absenteeism and Boharski’s rudeness. Laimanger said morale has taken “a 180-degree turn” for the better since the two left.

Carl Maxey, an attorney for the fired employees, said Dougherty, Laimanger and three other employees who have testified for Sweetser are unbelievable.

The five are union members and supported Sweetser’s campaign, Maxey said. All five have been reprimanded or demoted during their careers, he said.