PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Peter Kerwin, the former chief of program development for the Rhode Island Higher Education Assistance Authority, says his appeal challenging his firing has failed, after the state personnel board on Tuesday dismissed it.
Kerwin was fired in April over allegations that he disseminated a confidential internal document.
But Kerwin contends he was fired in retaliation for his "whistle-blowing" activities. He also alleges the personnel board's decision was "political retribution" for work he did during this year's election cycle.
Kerwin worked of the campaigns of Mark Binder, the independent candidate who unsuccessfully challenged House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, and Gregory Costantino, the Lincoln Democrat who felled Fox's senior deputy majority leader, Peter Petrarca, among others.
Kerwin says he now plans to file a federal whistleblower complaint.