A former top official in the state Justice Department has filed a complaint with the state's Equal Rights Division.
Joell Schigur said she was demoted because she questioned the idea of using tax-funded body guards to protect Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen at the Republican National Convention. But agency officials have said Schigur did not meet performance standards as the head of the department's Public Integrity Bureau, and that's why she was demoted to a special agent's post when her probationary period ended for her former job.
To prove his point, Van Hollen disclosed a few weeks ago that Schigur played a role in a botched investigation involving the Doyle administration's handling of a building contract. At the time, Schigur's lawyer accused Van Hollen of wrongly making his client a scapegoat in the matter. In her equal rights complaint, Schigur said her boss, Mike Myszewski, retaliated against her, and the law protected her from such a demotion.
The Justice Department has not commented on Schigur's new complaint.
