November 3, 2010
Defense
attorney Bakke next moved into the issue of Long's having tape recorded
conversations with Sonja Nallie and Tim Hutchings.
Bakke: Is it fair that Nallie and Hutchings were the
only two people you tape recorded?
Long: That's fair.
Bakke: What date was that?
Long: Tim was being accused of sexual
harassment. I don't remember the date.
Bakke
established that a formal complaint regarding a pre-interview notification with
Hutchings was August 29, 2007 and with Nallie on August 30, 2007.
Bakke: You pulled out a small tape recorder, right?
Long: Correct.
I did it in plain sight. I didn't
hide it.
Bakke: Nallie's complaint was that the only two
people you recorded were two African-Americans.
Long: It wasn't about race.
In reply
to Bakke's questions, Long said he talked with Mr. Forward about recording
Nallie and Hutchings and others if necessary and that Nallie and Hutchings just
happened to be African-American. He said
he was intimidated by Hutchings and that he placed the recorder in plain sight
so they knew they were being recorded.
He said that he had a concern about Nallie retaliating against him and
agreed with Bakke that it was important to be consistent in the pre-interview
notification. Long said that Tim Wahlin
had investigated the incident and did not find evidence of racial
motivation. Bakke asked whether he
agreed he used poor judgement. Long said
no. Long said he'd been advised by WSI
attorneys to record things; that Bjornson, in particular, always recommended
that he record things to protect himself, and he was to use his best judgment
in so doing.
Bakke
established that Halvorson told Long not to record any more conversations.
Bakke: Halvorson told you he was upset and that you
had poor judgment by tape recording the only two African-Americans at WSI.
Long: He said he was concerned.
Bakke: Was he overreacting regarding poor judgment?
Long: Yes he was.
He thought I needed to let him know why.
Bakke: Did Nallie withdraw her complaint because
Halvorson tried to get her to do so.
Long: Yes.
Bakke: Wasn't that helpful to you? It seems he wasn't out to get you.
Long: I can't figure out his motives.
Bakke: After you were told by Halvorson you had poor
judgment, that's when you filed your first whistleblower complaint.
Long: Yeah, it was after that.
Bakke
showed a Risk Management document with Jim Long's name on it dated
8/30/2007. There was discussion over
whether that document was an actual complaint and even whether Long had himself
created that document. Long said his
name was on it but it was not signed and that he remembered talking to Risk
Management, but did not remember filling out a form. The form used the words "WSI has a
policy against retaliation.
Whistleblower Act."
Bakke: Are you saying you didn't create this?
Long: I don't know.
Anybody could have typed that.
Long said
he'd been assigned to facilitate the investigation of Hutchings per
Grinsteinner. He'd hoped to bring a WSI
attorney with him, but instead brought a tape recorder. He said he was called into Halvorson's office
and reprimanded for it and thought that Halvorson was using the information to
jeopardize his career.
Bakke: This is a document that you filed, true?
Long: I can't say that with certainty.
Bakke: There was nothing illegal for Halvorson to
have reprimanded you regarding the tape recording, right?
Long: I thought there might have been.
Bakke: What was the reason you filed the Risk
Management document?
Long: I'm not owning that document. I'm not saying that I didn't file it, but I
didn't sign it.
Bakke: This document does sound like what you
reported to this jury, right?
Long: It sounds like something I talked about with
Risk Management.
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