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Board rules Indiana treasurer wrongly fired Mourdock deputy

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A state board has upheld a ruling that Indiana’s state treasurer wrongly fired her predecessor’s top deputy when she took office in 2014.

Jim Holden released the state unemployment review board’s Feb. 9 decision this week, along with an agreement signed in August settling his lawsuit against state Treasurer Kelly Mitchell. That agreement called for the state to pay Holden $92,500 but admitted no fault over his dismissal.

Holden was the chief deputy under former Treasurer Richard Mourdock and was manager of Mourdock’s unsuccessful 2012 Republican campaign for U.S. Senate. Holden’s lawsuit claimed Mitchell wrongly fired him from the three-year, $300,000 contract he received from Mourdock.

Holden says his firing was political retaliation by Mitchell on behalf of the Republican establishment.

Mitchell’s spokeswoman says the settlement avoided further lawsuit expenses.