It was announced today that they will finally get their day in court.
In a breaking development, Duckworth failed in her desperate attempt to spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to hide the truth in her whistleblower retaliation trial.
Illinois voters will soon find out why Duckworth and her taxpayer-funded legal team were so eager to settle with hush money. The Daily Herald reports that Duckworth will now appear in court next month – days after her disgraced former boss Rod Blagojevich:
The day before congresswoman Tammy Duckworth is scheduled to deliver a major speech on the main stage at the Democratic National Convention, two women who filed a workplace retaliation suit against her have announced they’re refusing to accept a settlement offer that seemed a done deal just weeks ago. Now, a trial set to begin Aug. 15 in downstate Jonesboro could serve as an obstacle at an inopportune time for Duckworth…
The news that she will soon become the latest Chicago politician headed to trial could not come at a worse time for Duckworth. As of now, the Blagojevich appointee is set to speak before her party’s toxic nominee tomorrow night.
As a reminder, back in 2008, Blagojevich – who was Barack Obama’s home state governor at the time, didn’t speak at the Democratic National Convention in Denver because of the scandals surrounding his administration. Blagojevich eventually found his way to Colorado years later when he reported to federal prison.
Will the DNC follow the Blagojevich precedent and revoke Tammy Duckworth’s speaking role because of the scandal surrounding her Senate campaign?
Read more about the breaking news in Tammy Duckworth’s whistleblower retaliation trial:
Exclusive: Women reject settlement in Duckworth workplace retaliation lawsuit
Daily Herald
By Kerry Lester
July 27, 2016
http://bit.ly/2ai1orS
The day before congresswoman Tammy Duckworth is scheduled to deliver a major speech on the main stage at the Democratic National Convention, two women who filed a workplace retaliation suit against her have announced they’re refusing to accept a settlement offer that seemed a done deal just weeks ago.
Now, a trial set to begin Aug. 15 in downstate Jonesboro could serve as an obstacle at an inopportune time for Duckworth as she enters the home stretch of her campaign to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk in a nationally-watched race.
Plaintiffs Denise Goins and Christine Butler told the Daily Herald Wednesday that they were insulted by the Duckworth campaign’s June 24 response to the settlement, with deputy campaign manager Matt McGrath releasing a statement describing the suit as "a frivolous workplace case" that dragged on for more than eight years.
"Within an hour of leaving the courthouse, her campaign decided to swing us through the mud again," Butler said. "So we emailed our attorney to let him know we want to proceed to trial."
The women say they received no pressure from the Kirk campaign to reject the settlement offer.
"We are both nonpolitical people. When we initiated the very first formal complaint, we had no idea she had political aspirations," Butler said. "We would have been happy to be done with it years ago."
Wednesday, McGrath referred all comments to Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office. Her spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
The lawsuit stems from Duckworth’s time leading the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, a post she was appointed to in 2006 by now-imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The case dates back to 2007, when Goins and Butler, two longtime employees of the downstate Anna Veterans home, made ethics complaints about their boss.
Butler, says she was fired by Duckworth for being "insubordinate." Butler later was put on leave instead.
Goins, says Duckworth told her the same day: "If you do your job and keep your mouth shut and concentrate on job duties, you will keep your job."
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The original settlement offer was reported to be around $26,000, with the attorney general’s office paying for the employees’ attorney fees and other court costs. But Butler and Goins said the offer in actuality was more like $40,000, with $21,000 of that sum paying for attorney’s fees and another $9,000 provided to each plaintiff.
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