County Worker Fights To Win Back His Job

Among the recommendations in the report are to improve the collection of environmental data, fund environmental education programs, develop a tree-planting strategy and devise a plan to reduce the county government's energy use and emissions.

Near the beginning of the document, McGranahan wrote that "the recommended actions are strictly the views of the author."

He said in an interview that he did not recall being specifically assigned to compile the report but viewed it as part of his job. He said he gave it directly to board members or their aides because "the alternative would have been to give it to my supervisor, and she would have given it to her supervisor, and the county administrator would decide when and in what form this would ultimately get to the board. My concern was that it might take a year."

Adam Draper, an attorney with the national public employees group who is handling the case, said McGranahan met with Pastor on Feb. 27 and explained his reasons for circumventing the normal process but was fired the next week.

Draper said McGranahan's administrative appeal will be considered by a three-person panel, in keeping with county procedures on employee grievances.

"In its overreaction to prevent unapproved candor from reaching the Supervisors, the Loudoun County Administration crossed legal lines protecting the right of employees to express opinions to elected officials on matters of public concern," Draper said in a written statement. "Candor in public service should not be a firing offense."

McGranahan had been in his job for about three years and had worked in Loudoun County government for 10 years, he said.

Several supervisors interviewed Tuesday declined to comment specifically on the firing, saying it was a personnel matter that should not be discussed in public.

Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac) said his report was in her possession for about a week before county staff members asked for it back, "because it hadn't been vetted properly," she recalled.

She said she skimmed the report and staff members told her that a final version would be available in April.

"I'm a well-known environmentalist, so I am looking forward to looking at whatever the administration is going to suggest," she said.

Supervisor Lori L. Waters (R-Broad Run) said she never got the report. It is a "break in procedure" for a report to go straight to supervisors without being read first by top county officials, Waters said.

"You have to have various people look at materials that are sent out and delivered, especially if we're going to make decisions based on information received or not received," she said.

However, Supervisor James Burton (I-Blue Ridge) said leaders need to hear from everyone, not just their organization's top brass. A retired Air Force colonel who was known as a whistle-blower at the Pentagon, Burton said it is important to have sources at every level of an organization.

"It's a dangerous game," he said. "However, anyone at the top who wants to understand what is really going on . . . has to have communication paths down into the bowels of the organization."

Burton, too, said he never got a copy. It "never made it to us and probably should have," he said.