Democrat Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth is heading to court tomorrow to hash out the details of her upcoming whistleblower trial.
In 2009, Duckworth, then working for disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, was involved in a wrongful termination case at the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
The whistleblowers, Christine Bulter and Denise Goins, claim that their jobs were threatened after reporting to the Department of Veterans Affairs that the Anna Veterans’ Home’s acting administrator had broken protocol and allowed a non-resident to pass out campaign literature in the home. One of the whistleblowers reported that when she returned from maternity leave she found her desk “trashed,” files missing and was greeted with a list of new duties that included asking permission to leave for lunch.
Problems only escalated when Duckworth paid a visit to the Anna Veterans’ Home to “resolve” the ongoing conflict. During her visit, Duckworth silenced both whistleblowers by immediately firing Butler and threatening Goins to “keep her mouth shut.”
In an email following her visit, Duckworth says she “screwed up” by firing Butler and that she needed help covering her tracks. Duckworth eventually rescinded Butler’s termination and placed Butler on paid administrative leave.
Duckworth has tried to brush off the scandal as “common to the head of any agency,” but that defense is likely not one that will hold up in court.