employees, as “the dismissal of public employees for reasons of political patronage violates the first amendment”, Livas v. Petka, 711 F.2d 798, 800 (7th Cir. 1983), and, “a termination based solely on an employee’s political affiliation would be a deprivation of his first amendment rights to freedom of association and freedom of belief”, McClure v. Cywinski, 686 F.2d 541, 544 (7th Cir.1982).
The test for determining whether the policymaker exception applies is formulated as “whether the position held by the individual authorizes, either directly or indirectly, meaningful input into government decisionmaking on issues where there is room for principled disagreement on goals or their implementation.” Shakman, et al. v. Democratic Organization of Cook County, et al, 722 F.2d 1307 at 1309 (7th Cir., 1983) (Lindsey, Petitioner v. Kelly, et al., Respondents), quoting Nekolny v. Painter, 653 F.2d 1164, 1170 (7th Cir.1981). See also Gannon v. Daley, 561 F.Supp. at 1382-83.
The court, in the latest Shakman proceeding, states the purpose behind the policymaking exception. “[The exception] is to ensure that the first amendment’s protection not interfere with the workings of democratic governments and the ability of duly elected officials to implement their policies.” Shakman, at 1310.
Mrs. DeLaCruz was given no reason for her termination at the time of discharge. She was later told it was political. Mr. Pruitt made a practice of rewarding political supporters. Mrs. Gutierrez, Mrs. DeLaCruz’s replacement, was a political supporter of Mr. Pruitt. She received Mrs. DeLaCruz’s position, a position for which she was not as qualified as Mrs. DeLaCruz was.
These facts and their impact are not lessened by Mr. Pruitt’s testimony he did not know Mrs. DeLaCruz was the actual person in the position. This fact demonstrates Mr. Pruitt was going to dismiss whomever held the position under Dr. Arredondo and replace the employee with one of his supporters. This, again, is evidence of a political dismissal. Cf. Nekolny, 653 F.2d at 1172.
The first amendment, through the fourteenth, see Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 639, 63 S.Ct. 1178, 1186, 87 L.Ed. 1628 (1943), prohibits such a dismissal unless it can be shown the position was that of a policymaking or confidential nature. The evidence shows Mrs. DeLaCruz’s job does not fit within the exception.
Mrs. DeLaCruz had no “meaningful input into governmental decisionmaking on issues where there is room for principled disagreement on goals or their implementation.” Nekolny, 653 F.2d at 1170. Mr. Pruitt himself described the position of supervisor as a “more or less head bookkeeping position.” Mrs. DeLaCruz had no discretion, power or authority to hire, fire or set vacation days.
She had no discretion, power or authority to make any substantive changes in tax statements; she had to refer such proposed changes to the Auditor for decision. She was told how and when to make routine changes in statements where the mistakes were either incorrect names and/or addresses or clerical errors made by the Auditor’s office.
She set no policies, set no goals, attended no meetings within the Auditor’s office, and performed no tasks other than the tasks she was officially instructed to perform. Political affiliation simply is not an appropriate requirement for the performance of the position of supervisor of the East Chicago office of the Lake County Auditor’s office.
A case directly on point, with even seemingly stronger facts in favor of the dischargers, is Gibbons v. Bond, 523 F.Supp. 843 (W.D.Mo.1981), aff'd 668 F.2d 967 (8th Cir. 1982). Gibbons involved the removal and threatened removal of branch managers of the Missouri Department of Revenue. The branch managers were Democrats; the administration was Republican. The Gibbons court found that the discharges or threatened discharges violated the plaintiffs’ first