Fired Tammy Baldwin staffer Marquette Baylor filed an ethics complaint Monday with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics against her former boss alleging the Democratic Senator made “false statements and representations to cover up actions by her Chief of Staff and protect her political career.”

Baylor’s complaint details what she calls a “misinformation campaign” meant to lay the blame for the failure of the office to properly react to whistleblower complaints about opioid abuse at the Tomah VA facility. Baylor’s complaint also details for the first time the rejected severance package and confidentiality agreement that would have paid Baylor a full salary through May 15.

Baylor describes in detail how she worked for weeks to get the attention of Senator Baldwin through the proper channels that included Chief of Staff Bill Muray and State Director Doug Hill.

According to Baylor, she prepared a memo on the issues at the Tomah VA documented in an Inspector General report and by whistleblower Ryan Honl on November 25, 2014. Baylor said she heard back from  Hill that Murart, Baldwin’s Chief of Staff, said, “the two-page memorandum “provides a lot of information and actually too much information to be shared with STB.””

Baylor then crafted a revised memorandum that was submitted to Murat, who “finally agreed to insert into Senator Baldwin’s binder for her review” on December 17.

“I cannot say for certain whether the memorandum was ever included in Senator Baldwin’s hard copy binder. The memorandum was not inserted into Senator Baldwin’s electronic binder for the evening of December 17th, leading me to assume that Murat hand delivered the memorandum to her.”

Despite the fact that their office first received the Office of Inspector General report in late August, Baylor’s account suggests Baldwin may have first been informed of the severity of the situation in mid-December – a fact that Baylor chalks up to poor communication and poor office structure associated with the Chief of Staff.

Once the story of opioid abuse at the Tomah VA broke in early January, Baylor describes the damage control in detail, including how Murat and Hill terminated her on January 22 even though they claimed “my termination had nothing to do with the Tomah VA issue.”

Baylor took issue with Baldwin’s narrative that seemed to favor top staffers over her and her team.

“Indeed, the Senator appears to take credit for the initial actions by Helbick in acting as an advocate, all the while failing to identify that Murat and Hill affirmatively stifled me and my team’s attempts to proactively address the Tomah VA issues and the concerns raised by Honl and other aggrieved veterans.”

It was when Baylor rejected the confidentiality agreement and severance package that Baldwin then retained attorney Marc Elias, who conducted an “external review” that laid most of the blame with Baylor despite never interviewing her.

“Senator Baldwin’s comments to the media imply that my actions were willful or unethical – therefore justifying my termination – and that the actions of Murat and Hill were not. The Senator has it backwards. It was me and my team who continually sought to address the Tomah VA issues and it was Murat who affirmatively prevented us from doing so.”

Baylor also expressed reluctance about the need for a complaint, but expressed the urgency to defend her reputation.

Read the entire complaint HERE.

Authored by Collin Roth.