Office of the County Executive
Press Release
Released: September 5, 2001
United States District Judge John W.
Reynolds issued a decision dismissing the federal lawsuit filed by former
Airport Director Debra Giuffre and her husband, former Executive
Coordinator Eugene Lillge against Outagamie County, County Executive
Robert N. Paltzer and former County Supervisor Larry Cain.
The decision, dated August 29, 2001, ruled that all claims alleged
by Giuffre and Lillge lacked merit.
Debra Giuffre was the Outagamie County Airport Director from October 31,
1994 until County Executive Toby Paltzer fired her on October 12, 1999.
Her husband, Eugene Lillge, had been the county executive’s chief
aide since being appointed to that position in 1988.
Both the county executive and county supervisors received
complaints about Giuffre. She
failed to treat her staff with dignity and respect, she antagonized
members of the Outagamie County Board, she insulted her colleagues,
including tenants, vendors and other department heads, she failed to
perform important tasks such as submission of her department’s budget on
a timely basis, and she disobeyed at least one direct order from the
County Executive. Because of
his public and unquestioning support of Giuffre, Lillge could no longer be
trusted to function adequately in his sensitive job.
He was officially terminated in December, 1999.
Giuffre claimed she was terminated because she took controversial stands
on certain issues during her tenure.
The court found that Giuffre had not identified any “speech”,
so First Amendment prohibitions against retaliation based on protected
speech did not apply. Giuffre
further claimed that she was terminated on the basis of her gender.
The court held that she presented no direct evidence of sex
discrimination, and no evidence to show that the non-discriminatory
performance-based reasons cited by the county were false.
Lillge also alleged sex discrimination, but the court found his
claim too remote to satisfy the legal requirements.
Lillge further maintained that he was fired because his wife filed
a lawsuit against the county, but the court dismissed this allegation,
noting that none of Giuffre’s rights were violated by her termination.
Finally, both plaintiffs alleged that a conspiracy induced the
county to terminate them. The
court refused to honor this argument, at least in part because there was
no showing that the plaintiffs’ rights were violated.
Appealing this decision to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Chicago is the only remaining legal recourse for Giuffre and Lillge.
Attorney Anna M. Pepelnjak, Milwaukee, represented the county, Paltzer and
Cain. Attorney Victor Arellano, Madison, represented Giuffre and
Lillge.
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