Prosecutor fired for going to "white preservationist" conference

[Bob Sheridan]

It would be helpful to know whether his position is held at the 
discretion of the politically elected district attorney (I assume) or, 
as in some DA offices, civil service.

Why?  Because if an at-will position, it's more justifiable to discharge 
the employee for engaging in politically incorrect behavior that brings 
discredit on the appointing official, who would otherwise be seen to 
endorse the challenged behavior.  I don't know whether the FA reaches 
this far. 

But if civil service, there must be shown 'cause' or 'misconduct,' I 
believe, to discharge or impose discipline.  Here the exercise of one's 
civil associational and political rights may be protected.

If the employee is a member of a union, he may be entitled to a hearing, 
or arbitration, in which counseling or some other sanction short of 
discharge is required.

I suppose we should also ask why the employee attended the meeting or 
rally, to rule out that he was acting in the line of duty, investigating 
or familiarizing himself with something related to one of his cases.

rs

Volokh, Eugene wrote:
>     Any thoughts on the First Amendment issues?  The natural analogy, of
> course, is whether it was proper for prosecutors to be fired for similar
> Communist-related activities.
>
>     Eugene
>
>
> >From the Hornell Evening Tribune
> March 3, 2006
> http://www.eveningtribune.com/articles/2006/03/03/news/news03.txt
>
>
> Allegany DA fires 'white preservationist' prosecutor: Firestorm erupts
> downstate, with call for investigation of DA's office; Alfred U. will
> still allow Michael Regan to serve as adjunct professor  
>
>
>
>
> >From Wellsville Daily Reporter and Associated Press reports
>
> BELMONT - Allegany County Assistant District Attorney Michael Regan was
> fired from his job as a county prosecutor Thursday over his attendance
> at a conference of "white preservationists."
>
> Regan was terminated following an investigation by his boss, Allegany
> County District Attorney Terrence Parker, who said he had received
> numerous e-mails expressing concern about the assistant district
> attorney's presence at a meeting of the New Century Foundation in
> northern Virginia last week....
>
> "It has become clear that his recent activities will continue to
> significantly disrupt and impair his effectiveness as an assistant
> district attorney and the operations of the entire district attorney's
> office," Parker said.
>
> Regan was quoted in Saturday's Washington Post as calling participants
> at the conference "white preservationists" rather than white
> supremacists, and saying U.S. policies on immigration, trade and
> demographics have put the country on the wrong path. He declined to
> comment in the days that followed....
>
> Wellsville Attorney Bill Gunner said he has opposed Regan in court and
> has never seen any "bigotry or bias toward any particular ethnic or
> religious group." ...
>
> The Anti-Defamation League characterizes the New Century Foundation's
> ideology as "intellectualized, pseudoscientific white supremacy" and
> said the group promotes "genteel" racism.
>
> The ADL's regional director for New York was among those who wrote to
> Parker, noting the article also quoted Regan as saying: "You can see
> European Christian Americans are an endangered species." ...
>
> _______________________________________________
> To post, send message to Conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/conlawprof
>
> Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private.  Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
>
>   
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: bobsheridan.vcf
Type: text/x-vcard
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/private/conlawprof/attachments/20060303/0f200207/bobsheridan.vcf