Ferry whistle-blowers' trial opens

Two ferry employees say they were harassed — and one fired — after they complained about corruption and waste in the Washington State Ferries system.

Lance Musselman and Bob Newmon say they were subjected to retaliation because "they spoke out against the waste of public money," their attorney, Shawn Hart, said Thursday as testimony began in the trial prompted by a lawsuit filed by the two men.

"There is a powerful inner circle of workers in the ferry system, a clique, who would approve special projects and give them to each other," Hart said during his opening statement in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

The granting of the so-called special projects — which included studies on lube oil and the color of coveralls engine-room employees should wear — could add an average of $30,000 to $40,000 to the base pay of employees given the projects, Hart said.

Special-projects money also was used to dramatically increase the retirement pay of the favored few, he said.

Lawyers from the state Attorney General's Office, who are defending the three ferry-system middle managers named in the lawsuit, said Musselman and Newmon were disciplined or terminated because of misconduct.

Musselman was fired in 2002 after he allegedly threatened a supervisor, and Newmon was suspended for two weeks without pay after he walked off a ferry in the middle of a shift, attorneys for the state said.

"This was a disgruntled employee who was mad because he had been disciplined," said Assistant Attorney General Clayton G. Ramsey about Newmon. "There is no good-old-boy system. Special projects were given to the people who were qualified to do them."

Musselman and Newmon filed suit last year against the ferry system's Director of Maintenance Mark Nitchman, and two staff chief engineers, Carl Allen and Ben Broxon. The suit alleges that the three men approved unnecessary projects, lied about the hours they worked, expected kickbacks and retaliated against those who challenged them.

Retired ferry employee Calvin Kuykendall testified Thursday that Nitchman once approved overtime pay for him by saying: "Your overtime is going to be horrendous and if you don't kick back, there won't be anymore."

Kuykendall said he did not pay any money to Nitchman, nor any other ferry employee, and after that he was never again approved for overtime pay.

Susan Harris-Huether, a spokeswoman for Washington State Ferries, said that while the ferry system would not comment specifically on the pending litigation, special projects were approved when the expertise of employees was needed to perform tasks beyond their typical work duties.

The trial is expected to last 10 days.

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.