Former Governor Brandstad Ruled Guilty

By: Jacob Sexton — [email protected]

Des Moines, IA — Former governor Terry Brandstad has been found guilty by the jury in this discrimination case against former Worker’s Compensation Commissioner Christopher Godfrey.

In the decision Godfrey has been awarded 1.5 million in damages. Roxanne Colin was Godfrey’s attorney and made the case that Brandstad was over stepping is bounds by cutting Godfrey’s pay in order to get him to resign and believed it to be on the basis on Godfrey’s sexual orientation. Brandstad is currently the US Ambassador to China and has been in the role since 2017 but returned to Des Moines to testify in court. His remarks were that he has had gay employees before and made the decision to try to get Godfrey to resign because of he had had complaints about his performance.

If the decision stands, it’s likely that the state will have to pay for Godfrey’s legal bills which would add to the cost of taxpayers who have already had to pay over a million dollars for the attorneys used in the defense of Brandstad.