By Tom Carsner, Iowa City
Supervisors V Fixmer-Oraiz and Jon Green stood up for worker’s rights, fairness, and justice when they opposed Supervisor Rod Sullivan’s unprecedented and arbitrary firing of Board Executive Director Guillermo Morales in September 2024. Sullivan arbitrarily ignored County employee policies about “for cause” termination, progressive discipline, and basic employee rights. Sullivan has exposed the County to a multi-million-dollar lawsuit by Morales for wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination, and defamation.
Sullivan enacted his bullying power play in September 2024 as he sensed his own power slipping away and could not wait for the usual disciplinary process to play out before Mandi Remington would take her seat as Supervisor in January 2025. He did not follow precedent or the county policy of progressive discipline. Sullivan put the jobs of all county employees in jeopardy for fear that his arbitrary action could hurt them next.
Sullivan offered only vague, anonymous second- and third-hand accounts of how Morales could leave colleagues upset or angry from his sometimes-blunt talk as reasons for the firing. Nothing came close to the “just cause” legal standard. Other Supervisors allegedly sought to retaliate against Morales for exercising his First Amendment rights by publicly supporting Remington in the 2024 Supervisor primary and publicly supporting the censure of County Attorney Zimmermann for prosecuting seven transgender citizens for protesting an anti-trans speaker.
Whether intentional or not, because Morales is Latino, the suit alleges Sullivan potentially waded into racial discrimination because Morales was treated differently, in that he was not offered the same progressive discipline given other white department heads in a similar situation.
These allegations are all serious violations of labor law that show how Sullivan lacks the temperament to be trusted in leadership. Some may minimize this action as uncharacteristic of the person they have known for his 22 years in office. Yet over 35 years of knowing Rod in local politics, I see a pattern. I acknowledge Sullivan has done some good actions in office, but when challenging him on policy concerns, I personally have received bullying threats from Sullivan. Friends of mine have witnessed his demeaning comments over the years and strong-arm tactics even during this campaign.
And these acts did happen to Morales, and if returned to office, Sullivan could use the same bullying tactics against others. District 4 voters should not take that chance.
Join me in voting June 2 to re-elect V Fixmer-Oraiz in District 4, a justice champion who respects employees and who has demonstrated many times that they will uphold the civil rights of all county residents.
