/ Source: WHO-TV
DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Supreme Court has sent a civil rights and defamation case against Governor Branstad and other state officials back to the lower courts.
The court ruled Friday that a judge should decide whether Branstad, Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds and four aides can be sued by Chris Godfrey.
Godfrey was appointed as the Workers Compensation Commissioner in 2006. His term expires next year but Governor Branstad asked him to resign in December, 2010.
When Godfrey refused, the governor cut his $112,068 salary by about a third.
The higher court says a judge or jury should make a decision on whether the governor and the other state officials acted within their capacity.
Read the opinion here.
