A whistleblower lawsuit against Boise State University is in its infancy, but Attorney General Raúl Labrador has already named outside counsel to handle the case.
Labrador has appointed Joan Callahan, a Boise attorney, to represent Boise State administrators.
Lisa Gardner, the university’s former executive director for alumni relations, has filed a $2.5 million complaint against Boise State.
Gardner said she was fired in December, after she complained that two of her female staff members had been passed over for promotions or pay raises, in favor of younger female colleagues. In her lawsuit, Gardner also alleges that a high-ranking university and foundation official had had “an inappropriate intimate, romantic, or sexual relationship” with a younger female employee who had received a promotion.
It’s unclear why Labrador hired Callahan as special deputy attorney general. But Labrador made the appointment, which is “effective for the duration” of the case, in a Feb. 25 letter, filed last week in Ada County District Court.
That means Labrador’s appointment predates the lawsuit, filed April 17, and even a March 30 tort claim filed in advance of the lawsuit.
Labrador’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Callahan also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Callahan works for Naylor Hales, a private law firm; according to the firm’s website, employment law is one of Callahan’s areas of practice.
Federal prosecutors on Thursday unveiled charges against 11 Eastern Europeans they accused of running a sophisticated, $10.6 billion Medicare fraud scheme in what appears to be one of the largest ...