State has paid $67,000 to former Redistricting Commission staffer for wrongful termination

The state paid out $67,000 to the former communications director for the 2021 Washington State Redistricting Commission in a wrongful termination lawsuit settled late last month.

The case was filed in Thurston County Superior Court by plaintiff Jamie Nixon against Lisa McLean, the former executive director for the 2021 commission, Lisa Biscay, the former human resources director for the commission, and Sarah Augustine, the 2021 commission’s chair. The state was also named as a defendant in the case.

The funds came out of the Self Insurance Liability Account, according to Brionna Aho, communications director for the Office of the Attorney General.

Nixon told McClatchy that the lawsuit was in response to his early termination from the Redistricting Commission. While he was told that he would have employment with the commission from 2021 until June 2022, he was suddenly let go in January 2022, just two months after the commission’s redistricting maps were turned in.

Nixon said he had been looking forward to the job as a way to pay for him and his family to move to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He believed the work for the Redistricting Commission was important and interesting, and noted that he was excited to participate in the commission that only convenes every 10 years when legislative and congressional maps need to be redrawn based on new U.S. Census data.

“What a unique and neat thing to work on, right?” Nixon told McClatchy. “And I was really looking forward to the idea of being able to do some real educational outreach in the position and kind of teach people about what it is and why it’s important.”

But then Nixon asked for time off to take his daughter to college, and he felt the dynamic between him and McLean, his direct supervisor, change. She admitted during deposition for his case that she decided then to modify Nixon’s job without any type of notice or agreement.

Other issues then came up.

Nixon said he needed advice for public records matters from the Assistant Attorney General while McLean was on vacation during the time the maps were being redrawn in November 2021. McLean said during her deposition that she was upset Nixon had gone over her head for advice, leading her to further lean in to terminating him.

The two also butted heads when commissioners failed to provide maps on time, and public records requests from multiple media outlets began pouring in. Nixon said he wanted to be open and transparent with the public about what happened, but that McLean and others pushed back on that idea.

Depositions also shed light on how Nixon’s termination followed him to other possible jobs.

Nixon told McClatchy that he believed someone at the commission had prevented him from getting hired at the Housing Authority in St. Croix where he now lives. In Biscay’s deposition, that suspicion was confirmed when she said she had told the Housing Authority that the commission would not rehire Nixon.

The Redistricting Commission has been rife with controversy since it convened.

While the Redistricting Commission is supposed to be nonpartisan, McClean admitted in deposition for Nixon’s case that partisan staff was used to draft job announcements and descriptions for the commission, as well as other duties for the commission.

The commission admitted in 2022 that it broke the law by negotiating the drawing of the congressional and legislative maps in secret, according to reporting from Crosscut. Commission members also admitted that they had violated Washington’s Open Public Meeting Act when they approved the maps without public deliberation.

Two lawsuits were filed against the Redistricting Commission for those violations.

Additionally, McLean later admitted to Crosscut that text messages had been withheld and deleted by commissioners, a violation of the state’s Public Records Act. That admittance led to other lawsuits.

In December, plaintiff Arthur West was awarded $40,000 after he sued the commission for violating the Public Records Act by withholding and deleting text messages.

In February, Sean Murray, the former digital media and communications coordinator for the 2021 commission, accepted $50,000 from the state to resolve a lawsuit against the Redistricting Commission for withholding and destroying public records.

Despite being the Public Records Officer for the commission, McLean admitted in depositions for Nixon’s case that she did not have any specific training on how to handle public records requests. She also admitted that the staff was not well-trained on how to manage public records.

McLean also noted that she did not understand the need for redaction logs, leading her to push back on producing them to media and the public.

Most recently, in a lawsuit over Yakima’s 15th Legislative District, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the commission violated the Voting Rights Act when it redrew Washington’s maps. The judge also ordered the map for the 15th District redrawn, either by reconvening the commission or letting the Court decide on a new map.

McClatchy was unable to reach McLean for comment. Biscay told McClatchy in an email that she was unable to respond to ongoing litigation.