County Worker Chastised for Criticizing Obamacare, Says Right-Wing Legal Group

A Santa Clara County employee took a browbeating for criticizing Obamacare and told to take her complaints outside—literally off public property.

That’s according to Norina Mooney’s attorneys at the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a conservative legal defense group that defends “religious, parental and other constitutional rights.” Bear in mind, this is the same right wing religious nonprofit that concocted a smear campaign against a transgender student, accusing the girl of harassing her classmates, and other anti-LGBT lies.

Mooney has worked for the county for 20 years, PJI says in a press release that’s been making the rounds on conservative websites.

“So when she made small talk with a co-worker about all the insurance policies being canceled due to Obamacare, she was surprised to get called into a supervisor’s office,” the announcement states.

The supervisor allegedly told her that her comments had offended someone who overheard and that she should take her politics outside.

“This came as a shock to Norina, especially since the office environment is replete with pro-Obama paraphernalia, and co-workers have even worn Obama campaign attire to work,” the press release continues. “Apparently only message deemed to be critical of the president or his policies are not welcome in this county office.”

Calls to county spokeswoman Gwen Mitchell weren’t immediately returned. PJI says it will consider legal action.

“Just when we thought the disastrous Obamacare rollout couldn’t get much worse, the county of Santa Clara is compounding those problems by claiming that criticism is off-limits,” PJI President Brad Dacus decries in a statement. “Liberals and conservatives alike should be able to agree that this type of censorship is chilling and unconstitutional.”

Jennifer Wadsworth is the former news editor for San Jose Inside and Metro Silicon Valley. Follow her on Twitter at @jennwadsworth.

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *