remove the Kerry-Edwards campaign sticker or you're fired !!!

Gobbell said she was approached by a plant manager, on behalf of Geddes, and told she had to remove the Kerry-Edwards campaign sticker on the rear of her Chevrolet Lumina, or she would be fired.

September 17, 2004


WASHINGTON -- Lynne Gobbell's decision to stand up for her political beliefs turned her life around in less than a week.

Last Thursday she was fired from her job at an Alabama insulation company for refusing to remove a John Kerry sticker from her car's windshield, and left with an uncertain future.

A few days -- and a couple of local newspaper articles later -- Gobbell found herself getting a job offer from Kerry himself.

When Gobbell, 41, returned to her Moulton, Ala., home early this week after a discouraging meeting with her former employer, she picked up the phone to hear Kerry's voice.

The Democratic presidential candidate introduced himself, said Gobbell, and told her he regretted what had happened to her. "He said he was proud of me for standing up for what I believed in," she said.

Near the end of their short conversation, Gobbell said Kerry told her, "You let him know you work for John Kerry. You're hired."

Kerry was referring to Phil Geddes, the CEO of Enviromate, a Moulton company where Gobbell had been hired as a production line worker two years ago. Geddes reportedly told Gobbell she could choose to work for his company or for Kerry when she declined to remove a Kerry insignia from her car.

Chad Clanton, a Kerry campaign spokesman, said the Massachusetts senator read about the episode in an Alabama newspaper before reaching out to Gobbell.

Gobbell said she was approached by a plant manager, on behalf of Geddes, and told she had to remove the Kerry-Edwards campaign sticker on the rear of her Chevrolet Lumina, or she would be fired.

"I told him that Phil couldn't tell me who to vote for," she said.

Gobbell said she then went to see Geddes at this office and confronted him about the situation. "I own this place," she said he replied, and told her to "get out."

Unsure what he meant, Gobbell asked her boss whether she was fired, to which he replied "I'm thinking about it ... get out and shut the door," Gobbell said.

Moments later, a plant manager informed her she had been fired.

Geddes was not available for comment yesterday.

When asked about firing an employee for displaying a political decal, Frederick Schauer, a Harvard professor and First Amendment expert, said "As a non-government job, the First Amendment in the strict sense does not apply."

A week before she was fired, said Gobbell, Geddes had attached a letter to employees' paychecks extolling the benefits of the Bush administration's tax policies.

As news of the incident spread this week, Gobbell said she received phone calls with offers of financial support from different parts of the world.

She said the Kerry campaign offered her the same salary she received through Enviromate, plus health benefits, something she did not have. Asked about her future duties, she said she "will be answering phones and spreading the news about John Kerry. There might be a little travel later on."