Settlement ends Becker-Tingle era in Racine politics

Sandra Tingle's allegations of "physical contact" by former Mayor Gary Becker led the city to settle her sexual harassment lawsuit.

The settlement approved by the City Council last week gives no details of the alleged contact, and the city denied all knowledge of the contact in the settlement. But the allegation was strong enough to convince the city to pay Tingle $20,000 in compensatory damages, $5,000 for lost wages and another $25,000 in attorney fees.

Tingle's attorney, Nola Cross, will make as much money as Tingle on the settlement.

The city also agreed to provide Tingle with a letter of recommendation from Mayor John Dickert, and accept Tingle's resignation from her job as Becker's administrative assistant effective July 18, 2008. The agreement effectively reverses the city's decision to fire Tingle and leaves her with a clean employment record. (Read the city's previous 126-page document explaining why she was fired here.)

In exchange, Tingle agreed to drop any current and future lawsuits against the city and she will not seek further employment with the city. She also agreed not to disparage any current or former city employees or officials. The city also agreed to advise its aldermen and officials not to disparage Tingle.

Neither Tingle nor the city admitted to wrong doing in the settlement.

"The parties have entered into this Agreement to buy their peace and to avoid the cost of litigation," the settlement said.

You can read the full settlement here. Below is the letter of recommendation Dickert was required to write for Tingle:

To Whom It May Concern,

Re: Sandra Tingle

Dear Sir/Madame,

Sandra Tingle was employed as the Mayor’s Secretary for the City of Racine, Wisconsin from June 9, 2003 through July 18, 2008. Ms. Tingle resigned from her position to relocate to London, England, where her husband had accepted employment.

In her capacity as the Mayor’s Secretary, Ms. Tingle was responsible for all office support and administrative duties for the Mayor including scheduling appointments, answering phones and working with the public, preparing communications for the City Council, creating Council handbooks and other office literature, maintaining records and communications for City Council proceedings, and reconciling financial data for the Mayor’s travel expenses.

Ms. Tingle demonstrated effective communication and people skills and was able to handle difficult people with ease. In addition, she was organized, reliable, and skilled in a variety of computer programs. Ms. Tingle worked independently and was able to follow through to ensure that jobs were properly completed. She was flexible, willing to work on any project that was assigned to her, and often volunteered to work in areas outside the scope of her primary duties.

I recommend Ms. Tingle be given full consideration for any position for which she may apply.

Sincerely,

John Dickert, Mayor

And here's the official statement the city released after reaching the settlement:

Sandra Tingle and the City of Racine have resolved her claim of a hostile work environment and retaliatory termination to their mutual satisfaction. While the City denies any liability or wrongful act towards Ms. Tingle, the City regrets any difficulties Ms. Tingle encountered during her employment with the City. 

The city's settlement wraps up a tumultuous period in the city's history. Tingle walks away with $25,000 and a clean employment record, Becker is in prison for three years and former City Administrator Ben Hughes has a new job in Michigan.

We'd be remiss if we didn't point out Dickert and Tingle had a close relationship before she left the country. Dickert was the Tingle's real estate agent, and was selling their Park Avenue home, until he ran for mayor and transferred the property to another agent. Tingle attended Dickert's victory party at Salute and it's no secret the Tingles were friends of Dickert's going back several years.

That said, people close to the negotiations strongly refuted the mayor was involved in the Tingle settlement. The decision was driven by the City Council, which felt Becker's guilty pleas and other circumstances with the case, made going to court a dicey - and potentially expensive - proposition. The city had already spent $70,000 on attorney's fees on the case, with the potential for tens of thousands of more dollars if Tingle and Cross pushed the case.

No city officials are now talking about the settlement, even off the record. They're likely scared off by the non-disparagement clause in the agreement, but they won't even say that.

With that, it appears the Becker-Tingle era in Racine city politics is over.

City ready to settle Tingle lawsuit

The city is preparing to settle the sexual harassment complaint Sandra Tingle filed against the city in 2008.

City leaders met in closed session Feb. 22 to discuss settling the case for $30,000. Tingle, who worked as Mayor Gary Becker's assistant from 2003-2008, accuses the city of creating a sexually hostile work environment. She filed suit in July 2008 shortly after she was fired from her city job.

The city hired an outside law firm to investigate Tingle's case, but no merit was found to Tingle's claims. Tingle and her attorney, Nola Cross, then filed a case with the state's Equal Rights Commission, which dismissed the case.

Tingle is now appealing the Equal Rights Division decision and a three-day appeal hearing is scheduled for April. The city hopes to settle the case before this hearing, according to people familiar with the settlement discussions.

The city's motivation for settling is mounting legal fees. It's already spent $70,000 on the case and is on the hook for at least another $40,000 in legal fees before insurance kicks in. There's also a chance Tingle could win the case, which could cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars more.

Tingle could also file a complaint in federal court, which would cost the city tens of thousands of dollars more in legal fees, plus the risk of losing the case and being on the hook for another big payout.

Any settlement with Tingle will have to be approved by the City Council. City officials close to the discussions said it was unclear when the the council would take up the settlement.

Update: Comments closed on this story because of some really, really not nice things said about several people.

Dickert no longer agent on Tingles' house

Mayoral Candidate John Dickert is no longer the real estate agent selling the home owned by Sandra and Frank Tingle, the couple suing the city over allegations of sexual harassment.

Dickert, a Realtor with First Weber, was listed as the agent for the Tingles' home at 1740 Park Ave. But his campaign said Tuesday real estate agent Erin Manders is now the agent on the home.

It's a smart move by Dickert, and likely one of several instances where he'll have to hand over real estate listings if he's elected mayor. He estimates he sold over $5 million each year for the last two years. Dickert has said he'll leave behind all of his real estate dealings if elected mayor.

The Tingles are interesting because Sandra filed a complaint against the city alleging former City Administrator Ben Hughes sexually harassed her. The state threw out the complaint, but Tingle can appeal the ruling until May 2010.

State rejects Tingle's claims against city

Update: Click here to download the Equal Rights Division's full report dismissing Tingle's complaint.

---

Ben Hughes in his City Hall office.

City Administrator Ben Hughes has a reputation for being a "buttoned-down" manager at City Hall. In his own words, he's the "guy that wears a suit every day to the office, even on Fridays."

So sexual harassment accusations against him back in August came as a surprise. Former City Hall employee Sandra Tingle made a series of sensational, if somewhat bizarre, claims against Hughes and Mayor Gary Becker accusing them of creating a hostile work environment. The fact that those claims came a few weeks after Tingle was fired on July 18 raised some flags, but the complaint was sent to the state Equal Rights Division for investigation.

While the investigation was underway, Tingle's attorney released salacious documents to the press claiming Hughes gave her an over-night bag and the mayor used inappropriate language.

The city hired an outside attorney to investigate and found no substance to the report. Now, the state is backing up the city's findings.

An investigator with the Equal Rights Division released a report on Nov. 26 dismissing Tingle's complaint and refusing to move forward with a formal hearing. Tingle and her attorney, Nola Cross, can appeal the decision, but the ruling largely ends their case.

The complaint arrived at City Hall on Monday. In an interview in his office Monday afternoon, Hughes spoke out about Tingle's claims and the state's ruling. In a controlled tone - there were no signs of anger - Hughes described Tingle and Cross as "unethical" and as perpetrators of intentional lies designed to ruin his and Becker's careers.

"It's very sad, and also frustrating, that a small segment of our society, such as Sandra Tingle and Nola Cross, lack the integrity to use the law as it was intended," Hughes said. "Sexual harassment laws were designed for people who need that help ... anyone who considers themselves a feminist should be outraged at how they used the law."

Tingle's complaint cost the city thousands of dollars in legal bills, Hughes said. The case had to be handled by an outside law firm because a number of city employees were interviewed.

"None of this needed to happen," Hughes said. "Her (Tingle's) dismissal was caused by her own poor actions as an employee."

He added that Cross and Tingle owed Racine residents an apology for making false allegations.

"Citizens should know democracy worked here in recognizing a fraudulent claim," Hughes said.

The Division of Equal Rights report revealed the three witnesses who testified on Tingle's behalf during the complaint. They included Kay Collins-Schulz, who testified Mayor Becker swore in front of her and made a second lewd comment; Cindy Wanek, a health department employee, who testified Becker made additional inappropriate comments; and Alderman Jeff Coe, who said he had heard the mayor had used swear words to refer to women.

Investigator Christine Brunow concluded there was no evidence to support Tingle's claims.

On a personal level, Hughes said support from coworkers and city residents helped him through a tumultuous first year on the job. Despite a public grilling, including ugly accusations against his character, Hughes said he is more confident then ever that Racine is a good fit for him.

"I have not lost faith in Racine," he said. "I've chosen the right place to spend, hopefully, the rest of my career."

Hughes said he and Becker have been silent on Tingle's complaint out of their professional obligation not to address her firing. But now that the complaint was been settled by the state, Hughes said he was happy to defend his reputation on the record.

Hughes said the incident has not changed him as an administrator. He doesn't feel the need to turn into a recluse or change procedures at the office. He added City Hall didn't "miss a beat" through the turmoil.

"This didn't derail any of the good work that's going on in the city," Hughes said.

Hughes also addressed a lingering rumor Cross filed a complaint against him at a previous job. In fact, he said, an employee resigned because of a medical issue and Cross represented her in working out a benefits package. There were no charges of harassment, Hughes said.

The City Council is in the process of sorting out the future of Tingle's position. Becker asked the council to fund the full-time administrative assistant position. A retired city employee is working the job now for 32 hours a week.


Original post:

We'll have the full story shortly, but for now:

The state has "unequivocably rejected" the claims of sexual harassment filed in July by Sandra Tingle, who was fired as the mayor and city administrator's assistant at City Hall, according to Ben Hughes, city administrator.

The state's rejection came Wednesday, in a seven-page report that was just received at City Hall today.

More coming...

Our earlier story about her complaint is here.

City of Racine accused of discrimination by public health administrator

The same attorney who filed sexual harassment charges against City Administrator Ben Hughes is now threatening to file a discrimination claim on behalf of Racine Public Health Administrator Janelle Grammer.

Attorney Nola Cross wrote a letter to the city on Nov. 11* alleging Grammer:

has been subjected to certain personnel actions based upon illegal age discrimination, prior Equal Employment Opportunity activity, and opposition to age and disability discrimination.

Cross threatened to file a complaint under state and federal law if the matter was not resolved internally.

The city Attorney's office said Tuesday they have hired Attorney Mark Olson, of Davis & Kuelthau SC, to represent the city in the case.

Cross is out of the country and unavailable for comment, her office said Tuesday. Cross filed a sexual harassment suit against Hughes in July. The city hired Olson to investigate and issued a report clearing Hughes of wrongdoing.

We were tipped to the story about Grammer's suit by an anonymous source, and confirmed it Tuesday morning with the City Attorney's office.

Grammer was not immediately available for comment.

* This story originally said the letter was sent on Nov. 13. It was sent on Nov. 11 but received by the city on Nov. 13.

The city's response to Tingle: All the gory details

Over the weekend, the city released its 18-page response to Sandra Tingle's complaint that she was sexually harassed and fired from her position as the mayor's administrative assistant due to her gender.

The city vigorously denies all of Tingle's charges in the brief by attorney Mark L. Olson, of Davis and Kuelthau law firm, submitted this weekend to Christine Brunow, the civil rights investigator in the Equal Rights Division of the State of Wisconsin, Department of Workforce Development. We posted Olson's response yesterday.

Today we have more: all the gory details contained in the 126 pages of exhibits that accompanied the city's response.

The exhibits include:

• city employment policies
• copies of reprimands given to Tingle
• email exchanges between her and City Administrator Ben Hughes regarding job performance issues like confidentiality and whether meetings were being convened in a timely manner)
• memos, policies, even City Hall's telephone tree, as part of a detailed back-and-forth over whether phone calls were being answered or sent to voice mail
• details of two apparently bogus sick-pay claims by Tingle
  
• the letter and filing made by Nola J. Hitchcock Cross, Tingle's lawyer, in her initial Aug. 8 Discrimination Complaint submitted to the state
  
• the city's detailed 56-page investigator's report examining one-by-one each of the 47 allegations Cross and Tingle made
• and Atty. Cross' July 16 letter --"Confidential Settlement Communication" -- sent to Robert K. Weber, City Attorney.

Be forewarned: It's a big file: a 3.5 megabyte PDF. You'll need Adobe Acrobat to open and read it, and plenty of time.

Here are some of the points worth looking for look for.

-- Exhibit 6 (Pages 17 - 18), a reprimand from Hughes to Tingle from Jan. 14, 2008, regarding the makeup of the interview committee to fill the vacant MIS Director position. Hughes wrote that Tingle spoke to an alderman and questioned why he "was not selected for the committee and you expressed concerns to him about the overall ability of this 5-person committee to make an informed decision. Later that day, your husband proactively called this same alderman... to question the composition of this committee."

"On a related matter...I recently learned of conversations you had ... in November 2007 with more than one alderman concerning the Mayor's 2008 proposed budget. Evidently, you questioned the need and wisdom behind his proposal to establish a new Grant Administrator position...This is yet another example of possible insubordination. It is my full expectations that no such behavior is displayed by you in the future."

-- Exhibit 7 (Page 19 - 20) a reprimand from Hughes to Tingle from June 23, 2008, regarding the abuse of sick time.

The reprimand states that Tingle called in sick on May 5 and 6, and when she returned to work recorded the two days as sick time. "It has since come to my attention that you lied to me on both days and that you were in vacation with your husband in Florida during this period. Indeed, your husband, Frank Tingle, helped facilitate this fraudulent use of sick time."

The reprimand says Tingle also abused sick pay on Feb. 15, by attending a Milwaukee event for Obama and claiming sick pay for it.

-- Exhibit 8 (Page 21), the May 2 email exchange between Frank Tingle and city employee Kelly Graham. Graham wrote Tingle, "Just so you know, I will be making and bringing in a trifle on Monday for Sandy T's birthday, if you would care to come in and partake at some point. :-) She's going to be 29, right?"

And Frank Tingle's response: "Shhhhh... Ummmm...she is planning on being sick on Monday and Tuesday."

-- The largest portion of the Exhibit is the Confidential Investigation Report (Pages 29 - 85) submitted by Susan Love of the Davis and Kuelthau law firm. Love writes that she interviewed all individuals named in the letter by Tingle's attorney (Tingle herself refused to participate) "and searched thoroughly for corroborative evidence of any nature." In all, Love conducted 18 interviews.

More of the points discussed after the break:

Henry and Wanda's (Page 33): Hughes said he stopped attending the Friday evening socialization after, "On one evening, Ms. Tingle pointed out another female in the bar and stated that the female was going to be the Mayor's next mistress and would be hired for the new grant administrator position. Mr. Hughes stated he believed her comments were inappropriate. He left shortly after her comments. He never went to another Friday gathering at Henry and Wanda's."

Hughes denied he ever "sat uncomfortably close" to Ms. Tingle.... "He asserted, and several witnesses corroborated, that Henry & Wanda's is very crowded on Friday after work and everyone is generally in close proximity.... Other individuals who attended the gatherings stated they never saw Mr. Hughes act inappropriately toward Ms. Tingle and never heard any inappropriate comments."

Gifts (Page 35): The box of chocolates Tingle claimed Hughes gave her. He said it came from the president of a local bank and he told the banker he would share it with the office. "Witnesses verified" that "Hughes brought in the candy at Christmas for the office."

Tingle told a witness that Hughes had given her a "tote" bag. Hughes said it was the Mayor's 'tote' from a conference. "He believes he handed the Mayor's tote bag to Ms. Tingle. It contained conference materials. He expected she would give it to the mayor."

Harassment of city employee Liz DeWitt (Page 36): Tingle alleged that Hughes was harassing DeWitt "by repeatedly warming his coffee in her work area," in the City Attorney's office. Hughes and DeWitt both said there was no harassment, and she produced records of the number of visits he made daily to use the microwave. (Yes, it seemed strange to us that she kept track! For those of you not familiar with City Hall, Hughes' office is isolated, in a far corner of a large empty room away from the Mayor's office and the coffee pot.)

Alleged affair of Mayor Becker (Page 40): "Both the Mayor and the female employee identified as being involved in an affair deny there was ever an affair. The accused female employee and her husband have socialized with Mayor Becker and his wife... The employee has never travelled with Mayor Becker. She did not travel to Oshkosh with the Mayor. City records indicate the employee was at work in Racine on the days the Mayor was in Oshkosh."

Mayor's language (Page 41): "Witnesses stated that the Mayor has used profanity in their presence, generally in meetings in his office. Witnesses denied ever hearing the Mayor use the words 'bitch.' The mayor admits that he has used profanity when in his office. He admits that he may have used the word 'bitch' ... Mayor Becker alleges that Ms. Tingle also used profanity and refereed to women as 'bitch.' " (There's another nasty word in the brief, but you'll have to read it yourself...)

Performance issues (Pages 42-47): Three of the most contentious issues between Hughes and Tingle were her "releasing confidential information which she gained from her position as an employee," her allowing too many calls to go to voice mail, and the scheduling of meetings. Attorney Scott Letteney and Kelly Graham also met with Hughes and said Tingle "engaged in behavior (which) violated City policy: making inappropriate comments at work, accusing the mayor of embezzling city funds to pay for a trip to Italy, making disparaging remarks about Hughes' sexual orientation and referring to him as "a lapdog, like a Mexican Chihuahua," sending a YouTube video of a British television show about an elected official and his gay assistant with a message, "And now it's time for another episode of Ben and Gary," and more.

Exhibit 14 (Pages 89-93) is the back-and-forth email exchange between Tingle and Hughes about phone calls going to voice mail.

Analysis of Allegations (Pages 56-85). Each of the 47 allegations made by Atty. Cross in her initial Discrimination Complaint is examined. In each case the investigator finds no fault. For example: Allegation 44 which charges, "Respondent maintains a sexually hostile working environment in which some female administrative employees must maintain a social relationship with the City Administrator or be held to higher standards and threatened with discipline while those female administrative employees who agree to have a social relationship with Mr. Hughes are rewarded and held to lesser standards." The investigator concludes: "There is no evidence of a sexually hostile work environment."

Settlement Communication (Pages 110-116) from Tingle's attorney to the city. In it, she asks that Hughes be removed as her supervisor, that other secretaries must conform to the same phone call answering rules as she, that reprimands from Hughes be removed from her personnel file and not used against her, that other female employees be protected from Hughes' "quid pro quo sexual harassment and the sexually hostile working environment he has created," that the city investigate whether there were complalints against Hughes at his previous employers, in Wrightstown, WI, and New York, and that the city reimburse Tingle's attorney fees and costs. "In the event the city is unable or unwilling to take these steps, Ms. Tingle would consider a severance package as resolution of this matter."

Discrimination Complaint (Pages 117-126): The formal complaint filed with the Department of Workforce Development.

The city's case against Sandra Tingle

Without judgment (other than to say it makes for interesting reading), here's the city's case for firing Mayor Gary Becker's secretary, Sandra Tingle.