Shawn Moody, the Republican nominee for governor of Maine, likes to brag, Republican-style, about what a great businessman he is. Moody owns a string of auto repair shops, which he will tell you (again and again) he built up himself after being raised by a single mother. But another single mother, who used to work for Moody’s Collision Centers, says Moody fired her for becoming a single mother:
Sharing her story with a reporter for the first time, Ms. Hayward, 44, said that in November 2005 Mr. Moody visited her apartment while she was on maternity leave after having an emergency C-section. As she sat feeding a bottle to her weeks-old son, her boss explained to her that she could no longer work for him because of her duties as a mother, she said.
“My heart was in my throat or at my feet, and I’m looking at him like, ‘You’re kidding,’” said Ms. Hayward, who remembered “bawling” as it became clear there was nothing she could say to keep her job.
Jill Hayward got a lawyer and ultimately got a $20,000 settlement from Moody, but she lost her apartment and car and had to move back in with her parents. Shawn Moody says that firing her wasn’t his decision alone and that he now regrets settling the case. Well, of course he does. Settling makes him look guilty—as does the fact that Hayward’s mother, father, brother, and a former colleague at Moody’s business all corroborate her account.
Say this for Shawn Moody: He’s looking like an on-brand Republican replacement for current Maine Gov. Paul LePage. But wouldn’t it be nice to avoid that?
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