WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) – A jury has awarded more than $2.6 million to three former Lake County employees who claimed the county circuit court clerk fired them because they supported her opponent in the 2016 election. One of Lake County Circuit Court Clerk Erin Cartwright Weinstein’s first acts after taking office in December 2016 was to fire three former top deputies of former clerk Keith Brin, whom she defeated in the election. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Weinstein denied that the firings were tied to the trio’s support for Brin. The former workers’ attorney said Friday’s verdict showed the jurors believed they were fired because they weren’t on Weinstein’s team.
