# Former civil service appointee sues Romney



## MCLEA (Jul 23, 2004)

Former civil service appointee sues Romney 

By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer | May 25, 2006 

BOSTON --Gov. Mitt Romney's first choice to lead the state civil service commission filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Thursday charging Romney unfairly forced him off the commission in 2003. 
William Monahan is asking to be restored to the $80,000-a-year position as the commission's chairman and have his back pay restored. 
In the lawsuit Monahan said he was pressured to resign by Romney communications director Eric Fehrnstrom and former press secretary Shawn Feddeman after a reporter from The Boston Globe asked him about a past business relationship with one-time mob boss Gennaro Angiulo. 
In the lawsuit Monahan said he was told by Fehrnstrom, "If you resign, it's a one-day story. If you don't, it's a ten-day story." 
Monahan said another Romney staffer Spencer Zwick told him: "You've got to protect the governor. You've got to take one for the team. You've got to resign." 
Fehrnstrom declined comment Thursday. Zwick, who is managing director of Romney's private office and senior finance consultant to the Commonwealth PAC, Romney's the political action committee, declined to comment. Feddeman did not immediately return a call for comment. 
The lawsuit names Romney, Fehrnstrom, Feddeman and Zwick as defendants. 
Monahan said he refused. He said he had done nothing wrong and demanded to talk with Romney. He said Fehrnstrom and Feddeman told him Romney was out of town for the weekend and could not be reached. 
Monahan said he persisted and eventually spoke with Romney by telephone who told him he had no choice but to ask Monahan to step down. 
According to the lawsuit, Romney said he had been chased after by a state trooper when Monahan demanded to speak with him. 
"Bill, my stomach is turning. I just had a state trooper chase me down with a cell phone. I am very discomforted," Romney told Monahan, according to the lawsuit. "Bill, I don't want to do this, and I don't agree with them, but my senior staff is unanimous that I have to ask for your resignation. I don't want to do this, but I am outvoted." 
Monahan said he never told Romney or anyone on his staff that he would resign. He alleged that Romney's staff told the Globe that he had resigned when he hadn't. A call to a Globe spokesman was not immediately returned Thursday. 
He said he never resigned, but in 2004 Romney named a replacement, John Guerin, to head up the commission. 
Monahan said he was wrongly terminated and defamed as a result of the actions of Romney and his staff. He said he was removed without cause and without a hearing, as required by law. 
In 2004, Monahan filed a lawsuit in state court seeking to block Guerin from taking his seat on the commission. That request was denied. 
Monahan said he and a partner purchased a building on Tremont Street in Boston from the Angiulos for $260,000 in 1980 and that he paid for the building with a check for $80,000 and a promissory note in the amount of $180,000 at an annual rate of interest of 14 percent. 
Angiulo was the New England mob underboss until his 1986 conviction on federal racketeering and murder charges.


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