Opinion ID: 735703
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Richard Music

Text: 22 Under Gillem's administration, Music was employed as a laborer for the county Road Department, a position that is protected from patronage dismissals, and was not rehired by Meade. Music's parents were active in Gillem's campaign, and Music supported Gillem by displaying a bumper sticker on his car. As evidence of retaliation, Music testified that Meade told Music's parents that Music would have a job if Meade won the election: 23 Judge Meade came in and asked my dad to vote for him and Dad said he couldn't and he was sorry. Judge Meade said, Why? Said, Are you obligated? My father said, In a way. Mr. Gillem done me a favor and I want to do him one. He said, Well, Mr. Music, I'll do you favors also. And Dad said, I'm sorry, I just can't do it. And he said, Well, that makes me angry, and walked out of the store. Slammed the door behind him. 24 Music was not mentioned in the above conversation, but Meade allegedly came back a week later and spoke to Music's mother. Music's mother asked Meade if he thought that Music would have a job after the election, and Meade said that if he got elected, Music would have a job. Meade gave Music's mother campaign materials and asked her to vote for him, but she did not say if she would or would not vote for Meade. After the election, Music asked Meade to rehire him, and Meade said that he would have to check if Music was qualified and if Meade's budget would allow him to rehire Music. 25 Meade cites budget constraints as the reason that Music was not rehired. Meade did not know the specific scope of the budget constraints until after he had made his decision about Music, but the district court found that Meade knew at the time he made his hiring decisions that the county's finances were pretty well exhausted. Music had the least seniority of anyone in the road department. Meade subsequently hired two mechanics to repair county vehicles rather than pay the market rate to have them fixed, and these mechanics sometimes also performed the kind of work that Music had done. 26 The district court concluded that Music did not offer evidence sufficient to convince a trier of fact by a preponderance of the evidence that Music's exercise of his First Amendment rights was a substantial or motivating factor in Meade's decision not to rehire him. The district court further concluded that, in any case, Meade presented sufficient evidence to establish that he would have made the same decision even in the absence of Music's protected activities. We are unable to say that the district court erred. 27 There is evidence to suggest that Music was let go primarily so that he could be replaced by employees who could save the county money by repairing county vehicles. While there is also evidence to suggest that Music's employment was terminated because of Music's First Amendment activities, that evidence is almost entirely hearsay and is not sufficient to create a genuine issue of material fact. We affirm the grant of summary judgment as to Music's claim.