Citing "Mental Anguish," Christine O'Donnell Sought $6.9 Million in Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

Weekly Standard ^ | 9/12/10 | John McCormack

[truthandlife]

Court documents obtained Saturday by THE WEEKLY STANDARD reveal surprising new details about the gender discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Christine O'Donnell in 2005 against her former employer, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a conservative non-profit based in Delaware.* O'Donnell, who is now challenging moderate congressman Mike Castle in the September 14 Delaware GOP Senate primary, sought $6.95 million in damages. In a court complaint, she extensively detailed the "mental anguish" she suffered after allegedly being demoted and fired because of her gender. And, although she didn't have a bachelor's degree until this year, O'Donnell implied she was taking Master's degree classes at Princeton University in 2003.

O'Donnell alleged in a July 1, 2005 complaint filed in district court that she had been demoted because ISI's conservative philosophy dictated that women must be subordinate to men. She claimed she was fired when she contacted the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding her demotion. ISI told the Delaware News Journal that she had been "terminated for operating a for-profit business."

O'Donnell's finances, honesty, and stability have been called into question in light of her false and strange claims. The court complaint raises further questions on all fronts. O'Donnell, who made an annual salary of $65,000 at ISI as director of communications and public affairs, sought up to $6,952,477 million in damages, claiming, among other allegations, that ISI had defamed her and had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. O'Donnell sought:

--Up to $3,952,447 in "Direct Damages, including back pay" and "lifetime lost income and liftetime damage to reputation."

[Hurricane Andrew]

But Castle has refused to support the repeal of Obamacare, so what’s the point? You lose one battle and quit? Since clearly that issue is off the table, what’s left? Spending. Cap and tax. Support of life. Where’s Castle on these issues? As a lifelong Delawarean, I know all too well where he stands...

[freedomwarrior998]

Castle won't get the opportunity to vote for cap and tax or spending again, because Democrats won't be setting the Senate agenda, PROVIDED that we don't hand the rats easy Senate seats.

Keep in mind, that if Angle wins in Nevada, then it would be Majority leader Schmuck Schumer that you would be dealing with. Unlike Reid, he is extremely ruthless, cunning and effective. There will be a whole lot more coming from a Majority Leader Schumer than we would ever want to face.

[MindBender26]

No, in this case, she is not the Unknown.

She is a self-admitted crazie, lair and scammer.

She is crazy.

[Arizona Carolyn]

ain’t that the truth!

[reasonisfaith]

Keep ignoring everything from Mike Castle’s past.

The more you do this, the guiltier you and Castle look.

[reasonisfaith]

So all this somehow tells you to ignore the dirt from Castle’s past, and mince words to find dirt on the pro-liberty candidate, Christine O’Donnell?

[Antoninus]

LOL. More character assassination attempts by the Castle campaign.

Truly pathetic how viciously these RINOs fight conservatives in the primaries, and what absolute sissy-boys they become against Democrats.

It's official--Weekly Standard and National Review are now the enemies of conservatives.

[Hurricane Andrew]

Actually, he will. The DE election is a special election to fill Biden’s seat. The winner will be seated in November...and will vote on anything in the Lame Duck session. If you don’t think the Dems will try to push through anything and everything at that time, you are only fooling yourself.

[Girlene]

------Yep, the GOP dug until they found something. Unfortunately, this will probably end her campaign. If this is true, I have lost respect for her I hate to say. There is nothing worse than someone who tries to abuse the court system to get a “jackpot verdict”-------

It is better that it become public knowledge/publicized now. That is what primaries are for. If she can respond well, then it will be a skeleton she gets past and will make her a more viable candidate going forward (whether in this election or future ones).

I'm not so sure she was trying to abuse the court system. After reading the suit (the final amended one), there is no demand for $6.9 million.....she asks for a jury trial. If ISI did what she claimed (and it appears she has some documentation for certain events/emails/etc), I'd be pretty ticked off, myself. She relocates to Delaware after being pursued by the VP of ISI. She's allegedly told she can pursue outside "for-profit" activities that will also aid ISI's reputation. Sometime early the next year, she is unofficially demoted to work under a male subordinate with no experience in PR/marketing after her mentor (the VP) is on leave for a period of time.....no explanation. Almost immediately after she inquires with the EEOC on her rights, and after informing ISI of what she is doing, they let her go. And if that's not enough, they publicly make comments that they let her go because she had also entered into "for profit" activities while working for them (something they had agreed to let her do, originally). So now they are defaming her employment record (publicly), making it very difficult to get another job. She had bought a house in Wilmington (because ISI had convinced her to move) that she can't afford. She falls behind in payments, but eventually sells it in 2008 because she can't afford it on odd jobs.

Anywho, long story short, she probably should have continued with that lawsuit to clear her name at a minimum. But when your employer has made it pretty difficult to get a job, you don't have a ton of money, sometimes you have to be pragmatic. She dropped the suit - it cost money to keep going.

I can't vote for either Castle or O'Donnell, not being from Delaware, but I wouldn't let this lawsuit deter me from voting for her.

[rodguy911]

I just hate those “lairs” put down the crack pipe and forget about Castle.

[rodguy911]

awesome, great idea.

[battousai]

And, although she didn't have a bachelor's degree until this year, O'Donnell implied she was taking Master's degree classes at Princeton University in 2003.

Well was she or wasn't she taking Masters degree classes, should be easy enough to find out? I never finished my bachelor's yet I was still able to finish an MBA, gaining entry to the program based on experience and other factors, so just because she didn't have her bachelors at the time doesn't mean anything unless we know for sure she never actually took the courses.

[Crichton]

So your strategy is to find a “strong” tea party candidate, real quick, before the election?

There are dozens, even hundreds, of strong tea party candidates around the country who could use the support to win their races.

Imagine if the $ and energy was put behind Jennifer Horn in the New Hampshire primary, or the many general election races?

Maybe you’re just being sucked in by the elitists who will conjure up anything to keep believing Christians out of Congress.

Christine O'Donnell will keep herself out of Congress. Castle or Coons will win, bad news either way. I'm interested in supporting the many conservatives around the country who have a realistic shot at being elected.

And why are you attacking and mocking me? If you're a Christian, put aside the hate.

[mac_truck]

If you engage in protected activity under the law and your employer takes an adverse personnel action against you in close temporal proximity to the protected action, this creates a prima facie case, or rebuttable presumption of retaliation.

How do you know she didn't contact EOC after being told she was terminated? You don't know because you're only looking at the complaint and not the response to the complaint.

Now lets see if you can respond to this without name calling.

[phil_t]

O’Donnell had a very valid discrimination complaint, but lawyers cost money, and she couldn’t afford the legal costs of pursuing the lawsuit, and thus dropped the suit, in spite of the validity of her claim..

read details here..
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2587833/posts?page=22#22

[truthfreedom]

There are lots of RINOs instead of Castle that people can root for, spend money on, whatever.

I think that Christine will be a great Senator.
Do you think that Castle will be a great Senator?

Perhaps you should consider leaving behind your tired electability arguments and find someone to support that you think will be a great Senator.

Find them early, post stories about them here on Free Republic, try to get your fellow freepers excited about your candidate, and if you can get freepers to agree, maybe Palin, DeMint and the tea party groups will get involved.

There are 5 Republican primaries for US Senator taking place next week that are not Delaware. Perhaps you can find a candidate there that you think will be a great senator.

[TexasFreeper2009]

I don't get exactly what we are supposed to be outraged about.

So..... she was discriminated against... how is that suppose to affect my vote? Heck it might even make me MORE likely to vote for her out of sympathy.

Next thing you know they will come out with information that she was raped or something.. I mean WTH does this have to do with how she will act in office?

[DrewsMum]

This is a total hit piece....please notice when RINOs or liberals go after our women, their conclusion every time is that they are “crazy”...

I am disappointed with the Weekly Standard....the wordiness of this article....and lack of a thought process....it read like a National Enquirer article

[DrewsMum]

“But the story about being held back from getting her Master’s is troubling.”

and the Weekly Standard didn’t disclose all the details.

She never said she had been accepted....did she???? Did I miss something???

[DrewsMum]

And it’s not the first time this author has attacked her...