HELENA – A veteran Commerce Department employee said he was forced out by the Schweitzer administration after the release of a politically charged list highlighting local grants that had been frozen.
David Cole, an agency division administrator who was nearing retirement, said Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s office was upset that he had responded to a Republican senator’s inquiry about why $3.5 million in local government grants were being stalled.
That list was made public last week, and became the focal point of criticism the GOP was levying against the governor.
Cole told Lee Newspapers State Bureau on Thursday that he was ordered last week to pen a hasty handwritten resignation letter and quit immediately — even though that day was already going to be his last day in the office before retirement.
But retiring early cost him $6,000 in gross pay, because he was going to use vacation and compensatory time for the rest of the month until his official scheduled retirement on March 31.
“I’ve worked for seven governors going back to Forrest Anderson,” Cole said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Schweitzer’s spokeswoman said the administration didn’t know about his early retirement until after it happened.
Cole said he believes he was pushed out because the administration was unhappy over the disclosure of the grant delays, which has upset local governments that were counting on the stimulus project money.
Sen. Dave Lewis, a Helena Republican and former state budget director under Democratic and Republican governors, said he was disturbed by what happened to Cole.
“The end result is a good and loyal public employee ends up on the street,” Lewis said. “I think it further puts state employees in fear that they are going to be penalized for being willing to speak out about issues in their areas of expertise.”
Cole said he came in to work Friday and was told not to go to his office, that his computer was being checked for e-mail contact with Lewis, and that the governor’s office wanted his resignation.
Commerce Director Anthony Preite said Cole came in Friday morning and handed him a handwritten letter saying he decided to retire immediately.
Asked if he was ordered to force Cole to resign by the governor or his staff, Preite said, “If it did occur, I couldn’t discuss that. You get into personnel stuff. Before I talked to anybody that morning, he came in and said he wanted to retire immediately.”