{"id":2258376,"date":"2024-06-03T08:52:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T12:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawyer-for-wsdot-whistleblower-fires-back-in-response-to-motion-to-dismiss\/"},"modified":"2024-06-03T08:53:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T12:53:00","slug":"lawyer-for-wsdot-whistleblower-fires-back-in-response-to-motion-to-dismiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawyer-for-wsdot-whistleblower-fires-back-in-response-to-motion-to-dismiss\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney of WSDOT Whistleblower Responds to &#8216;Motion to Dismiss"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flawyer-for-wsdot-whistleblower-fires-back-in-response-to-motion-to-dismiss%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2258376&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-lawyer-says-legal-team-will-be-well-prepared-in-rest-of-impeachment-trial\/\" title=\"Trump Lawyer Says Legal Team Will Be \u2018Well Prepared\u2019 in Rest of Impeachment Trial\">legal team representing<\/a> a former Washington \u200bState Department of Transportation employee, Scott Smith, who filed a whistleblower complaint\u200d is responding to a motion to\u2063 dismiss the case.\u2062 Smith,\u2062 a former WSDOT economist, alleges retaliation for revealing how\u200d a cap-and-trade\u200d program would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meads-joe-bidens-energy-policy-is-the-embodiment-of-america-last\/\" title=\"MEADS: Joe Biden\u2019s Energy Policy Is The Embodiment Of \u2018America Last\u2019\">impact gas prices<\/a>. Attorney Jackson Maynard\u200d challenges conclusions in a DOT investigator&#8217;s report, emphasizing witness \u2062statements that \u2063support Smith&#8217;s claims.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 The legal team representing a former Washington State Department of Transportation employee who filed a whistleblower complaint against WSDOT and the Governor\u2019s Office of Financial Management, is responding to a request to dismiss the suit.<\/p>\n<p>Jackson Maynard, Citizen Action Defense Fund executive director, is the attorney for the former employee, Scott Smith.<\/p>\n<p>As previously reported by The Center Square, Smith is a former economist with WSDO. He claims he faced hostility and retaliation after refusing to keep quiet about his calculations last year showing Washington\u2019s cap-and-trade program under the CCA, would increase gas prices by 45 to 50 cents per gallon.<\/p>\n<p>Smith claims he was pressured by OFM and WSDOT to change the numbers in his reports indicating the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-shreds-biden-over-bidens-border-crisis-this-is-an-intentional-policy-rooted-in-an-open-borders-ideology\/\" title=\"DeSantis Shreds Biden Over Biden\u2019s Border Crisis: \u2018This Is An Intentional Policy Rooted In An Open Borders Ideology\u2019\">climate change laws<\/a> were significantly impacting fuel prices.<\/p>\n<p>He filed a lawsuit in March claiming whistleblower retaliation, wrongful termination and negligence.<\/p>\n<p>Maynard challenges media reports after the DOT investigators report came out, that suggested the findings concluded Smith doesn\u2019t have a legitimate case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou actually have to read the report, not just the executive summary that says we didn\u2019t find a preponderance of evidence,\u201d he said in a Friday interview with The Center Square. \u201cThat\u2019s legal mumbo jumbo which people can disagree with, but what you can\u2019t disagree on is on key points of what my client says happened to him. DOT witnesses that were interviewed by their own paid investigator, corroborated substantial parts of that claim.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The attorney said many of the statements actually corroborated what his client stated in the suit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were witnesses that admitted that there was a debate about whether the numbers should be included in the report at the time he (Smith) said he was being pressured \u2026 They corroborated that he was denied a promotion and that his supervisors changed. They corroborated that he was never granted the leave request to visit his elderly mother out of state,\u201d Maynard said.<\/p>\n<p>The 91-page report\u2019s executive summary said in part that \u201cSmith\u2019s perceptions of events\u2026.. are significantly different in many respects from the descriptions of events provided by the witnesses who were interviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of the witnesses say they don\u2019t remember,\u201d said Maynard, \u201cbut not remembering is not the same thing as saying it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maynard was especially taken aback that the interviews weren\u2019t recorded.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven how important this was and the significance of it, the better course would have been to record the interview, so there\u2019s no dispute about what was said and wasn\u2019t said.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Representatives from Gov. Jay Inslee\u2019s office and WSDOT said recording witnesses in these situations isn\u2019t common.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEach agency might be a little different, but on the whole it is not common for investigators to record witness interviews,\u201d the Inslee representative said Friday.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson from WSDOT said on Friday that the agency does not record any investigatory interviews.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cInvestigation participants were given an opportunity to review and approve their statements for accuracy and provide any missing details prior to a fact-finding report being written.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hearing on WSDOT and OFM\u2019s Motion to Dismiss Smith\u2019s lawsuit is set to take place in Thurston County Superior Court on June 21 at 9am. It will be open to the public either in person or via Zoom.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In response to a motion to dismiss, the legal team for the ex-Washington State Department of Transportation employee and whistleblower has taken action. Attorney Jackson Maynard, Executive Director of Citizen Action Defense Fund, represents the employee, Scott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2258377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/iStock-1483489085-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2258376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/iStock-1483489085-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2258376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2258377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2258376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2258376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2258376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}