State Treasurer Dennis Milligan testified Tuesday that his chief of staff's personal opinions about an employee's mental stability -- as outlined in an email that was later disseminated in news reports -- had nothing to do with why he fired the employee, David Singer.
In response to Singer's claim that Milligan fired him for discriminatory reasons -- on the basis of the perceived disability mentioned in the email written by Jim Harris, Milligan's chief of staff -- the treasurer told a federal jury, "My total motivation was Mr. Singer's performance and his continued upsetting of the office."
Last year, Singer sued Milligan, the treasurer's office and Harris in a case that U.S. District Judge Brian Miller recently pared down to two claims: the discrimination claim against Milligan in his official capacity, and a defamation claim against Harris in his individual capacity.
A federal jury began hearing testimony on both issues this week.
At the heart of both claims is a lengthy email that Harris wrote on April 5, 2015, to one of his assistants, Jason Brady, expressing his "concerns" about Singer's mental health.
Milligan testified that the email was an internal communication and was "never meant to go outside the scope of the management team" in the treasurer's office.
But after Milligan fired Singer on April 27, 2015, and Singer complained about the treasurer's office in a televised interview with Little Rock station KATV, Channel 7, Harris took a copy of the email to the television station and gave it to a reporter, the reporter testified Monday. Reporter Marine Glisovic also testified, after unsuccessfully trying to invoke her reporter's privilege, that Harris told her the email was "the real story."
Milligan contends that while he listened to concerns from Harris and three other members of his executive management team in deciding to fire Singer, including the views Harris expressed in the email, he considered the email to be strictly Harris' opinions, which Harris had a right to express.
Byron Freeland, an attorney representing both Milligan and Harris, contends that Harris' delivery of the email to Channel 7, which published it in its entirety on its website on May 4, 2015, was irrelevant because the email had already been provided to the television station and other news outlets as a result of Freedom of Information Act requests they had made for Singer's personnel file in response to his firing.
But Glisovic testified Monday that when Harris gave her the email, she hadn't yet had time to review all of the documents she had received from the treasurer's office and doesn't know if the email was included.
Singer filed suit on May 28, 2015, citing Harris' now-published remarks concerning Singer's behavior in the aftermath of the death of Singer's wife, Wendy, from breast cancer on June 30, 2014.
Luther Sutter, who is Singer's lead attorney, presented testimony Monday from John Lyon of the Arkansas News Bureau, the first reporter to officially request the file after Singer's termination. Lyon testified that the email wasn't included in the documents he received from the treasurer's office.
Byron Tate, who at the time was the editor and publisher of the Pine Bluff Commercial, where Singer had worked in the circulation department for several years, testified Tuesday that he asked Lyon, a reporter for the same group of newspapers, to request the file. Tate said Singer called him while driving home after being fired and suggested that he request the file.
Singer testified that he was given a copy of his personnel file before he was escorted out of his office immediately after being fired. He said it didn't contain the email, which he didn't even know existed at the time, but he wanted to see what the treasurer's office would release to the media.
Singer also testified that he had no idea that his bosses, including Milligan, were unhappy with his work until the day he was fired. He said the public release of the email days later, which he regarded as Harris' attempt to get back at him for giving a television interview about his termination, shocked and devastated him.
"It reads like I'm the lowest of the low. I mean, lower than dirt," he testified.
He said the allegations in the email, which included Harris' musings that Singer was using his wife's death to "hit on" other women and that Singer believed himself to be a "secret agent," weren't true.
Singer said he was reluctant at first, but gradually decided to sue, after Sutter, who told jurors he has never liked Milligan, called him and urged him to do so. Singer said his main concern is the staying power of some electronic transmissions even years later, such as when his two sons are older and might run across the derogatory email online. He testified that he has adopted his wife's two sons and considers them his own.
"I want this jury to clear my name, seal the email, have it redacted and make this thing right," he said. "I think a message needs to be sent that you can't do this to people ... for petty revenge."
Tate and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's vice president of circulation, Larry Graham, both testified Tuesday that they knew and respected Singer, who had worked for both of them for years, but wouldn't hire him because of the damage the emails had done to his reputation.
Singer appeared most upset about Harris' remarks about Singer's behavior with other women, noting that the women in question were good friends of his wife. He told jurors, "It's the most revolting piece of fiction."
At least two of the women in the treasurer's office -- whom the email said had complained about Singer bothering them and being "creepy" -- testified in Singer's defense Tuesday. Both said they had never made such statements and didn't feel that way about Singer, whom they liked and for whom they had great sympathy.
The treasurer's office issued an advisory Tuesday clarifying that Harris has been paying for his own legal defense since the defamation claim was dropped last month against Milligan and the treasurer's office.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today.
Metro on 08/10/2016