Chris Godfrey is still the only openly gay person in a top state government job in Iowa.

That’s still apparently one too many for the Branstad administration.

It continues to do everything it can to make his job — and his life — difficult. The latest: The Governor vetoed a piece of Godfrey’s budget in the Workers’ Compensation office. And the governor’s Department of Management appears to be targeting another chunk of Godfrey’s money — but not similar money in a sister division run by a Branstad appointee.

“I am frequently ignored and ostracized by others, including but not limited to Teresa Wahlert (his boss and the head of Iowa Workforce Development). When I greet them or try to interact with them, they walk away or pretend they do not hear me,” he told the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in April.

[Alert: There’s stuff about Nancy Sebring later in this column]

Meantime, the bills mount up as as the Governor’s $325-an-hour lawyer prepares to fight a lawsuit Godfrey filed. So far, the state’s Executive Council has approved paying $89,297.72 in invoices submitted by LaMarca & Landry. Expect a lot more. The trial isn’t scheduled until August of 2013, and none of the time-consuming — as in billable hours — depositions have yet been taken.

As Cityview has twice chronicled, after Terry Branstad was elected in 2010 and before he took office he wrote Godfrey and asked him to resign as Iowa’s Workers’ Compensation Commissioner. Godfrey, who has a statutory term that runs until 2015, refused. He was then asked to meet with the Governor and his aides in a campaign office. “The Governor-elect stated that he had a mandate and was entitled to have ‘his team on the field,’ ” Godfrey told the Civil Rights Commission. “I advised him that my position was designed by the legislature to be insulated from the type of political change the Governor-elect was pursuing.”

Then, a few months after the Branstad administration settled in, the Governor’s lawyer, Brenna Findley, and his chief of staff, Jeff Boeyink, met with Godfrey and again asked him to resign. Again, he refused. They then, that day, reduced his pay as much as they legally could — cutting it to $73,500 annually from $112,068.84.

Godfrey, now 39, is a graduate of Drake University and its law school. He practiced law until 2006, when he was appointed to a stub term as Workers’ Compensation Commissioner by Gov. Tom Vilsack. He was reappointed to a full term by Gov. Chet Culver in 2009. He twice has been confirmed by the Senate, the first time on a 48-2 vote, the second time unanimously. By nearly every account, he has done a first-rate job.

But, of course, he is gay.

And determined.

In August of last year, he filed a complaint with the Civil Rights Commission, which must be done before a lawsuit can be filed, and he amended it in April. In January of this year, Godfrey sued in Polk County District Court, alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation — “willful and wanton, and done with malice or in reckless disregard of [Godfrey’s] rights” — and retaliation, including the demand for his resignation, the cut in his pay and creation “of a hostile working environment.”

The defendants are Branstad, Findley, Boeyink, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds (who as a senator voted for his confirmation), Wahlert, Branstad communications director Tim Albrecht, and the State of Iowa. Godfrey’s lawyer is the formidable Roxanne Conlin, who — adding an intriguing twist to the case — lost to Branstad in her 1982 run for the governorship.

It’s not that Godfrey is a Democrat and Branstad a Republican. Insurance Commissioner Susan Voss is a Democrat with a fixed term, and Branstad didn’t ask her to resign. And former Secretary of State Michael Mauro, who is Labor Commissioner and who works just down the hall from Godfrey in the Workforce Development building, is a Democrat whom Branstad appointed to a fixed six-year term right after the election.

But, of course, neither Voss nor Mauro is gay.

As Workers’ Compensation Commissioner, Godfrey has a budget of $2.26 million, which was set by the Legislature this year. The legislation says Godfrey had to spend $153,000 for salary, benefits and the costs of hiring a Chief Deputy Commissioner. Branstad item vetoed that requirement — even though in his last go-round as Governor his commissioner had three chief deputies — and said the $153,000 should revert to the state. Those who disagree with the governor, and that includes Godfrey, think the veto simply means Godfrey doesn’t have to hire a chief deputy but gets to keep the budgeted money to use as he pleases.

Then last week the Department of Management called over to Iowa Workforce Development and began asking about some carryover funds, appropriations and miscellaneous receipts not used last fiscal year. They did not ask about similar funds in the office of the Labor Commissioner, whom Branstad appointed and likes.

“I’m not very happy about what’s going on here,” Kelly R. Taylor, the bureau chief for financial management at Iowa Workforce Development, said in an e-mail to Wahlert. “I do not believe I would be asked questions about Worker’s Compensations carryover if there wasn’t a pending lawsuit....I’m surprised that DOM would be involved in asking questions that could lead one to believe there’s bias involved…” Taylor, incidentally, was the whistle-blower in the CIETC doings of 2006.

A few months ago, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor had a retreat for all state agency heads and division directors. Godfrey apparently was the only office holder not invited. “I asked Ms. Wahlert about the event and why I was not allowed to attend when other similarly, non-elected office holders were invited,” Godfrey said in his complaint to the Civil Rights Commission. “Ms. Wahlert responded by informing me that I was not to attend the event.”

There’s always an upside. ...

Let’s see if we have this straight. The three new options for Des Moines Register subscribers are (a) $10 a month for home delivery of the Sunday print edition plus full access to the digital paper; (b) $14 a month for home delivery of the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday print editions plus full digital access; (c) $23 a month for home delivery of the print edition seven days a week plus full digital access.

If you assume that each month is four weeks, this means you’re paying $2.50 for each Sunday paper, 33.3 cents for each Thursday, Friday and Saturday paper, and 75 cents for each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday paper. That’s especially curious when you consider that the Monday paper is the tiniest — and, one might say, crappiest — of the week.

Of course, you can pick up Cityview for free.

Randy Brubaker, who had been managing editor of the Register, now is “senior news director (investigative reporting).” Two others seem to have become equals. Carol Hunter, onetime editorial page editor and more recently political editor, now is “senior news director (politics/state reporting),” and Julia Thompson is “senior news director (digital and multimedia).” ...

Nancy Sebring may have been head over heels in love with the guy who was sending her pictures of his penis and otherwise entertaining her, but those emails indicate she wasn’t head over heels in love with Des Moines. Cityview asked for the same bunch of emails that the Omaha World-Herald asked for last month (the Register asked for a bigger batch a few days later), and while they show her telling pals she surely will miss Des Moines when she goes to Omaha — well, that didn’t exactly work out — they also have another tidbit:

Besides applying for the job in Boulder, Colo., a year ago and the job in Omaha this spring, she also threw her name into the mix for the top job at the Eden Prairie, Minn., school system. She withdrew only when she discovered the names of the candidates were going to be made public. And another e-mail, apparently to a recruiter, says “Yes, I am interested” in the South Washington County schools job, which apparently is in Minnesota.

The salacious emails are available here >>>

Now that you’ve read those and returned to Skinny, here’s a bit more:

Two top Republican House staffers are leaving, which is odd given that the GOP has a strong majority and is likely to stay in control of the House after November. As Cityview reported a couple of weeks ago, Matt Hinch, the chief of staff to Speaker Kraig Paulsen, is joining the Greater Des Moines Partnership as senior vice president for government relations. Now, Lon Anderson, the longtime top staffer on the budget committee, is moving over to become second in command at the Department of Administrative Services. “Anderson will really be missed,” says a top GOP legislator who has worked with him for years. “He knows more about the budget than anyone, including Dave Roderer,” the guy who runs the Department of Management.

One guy says the two moves signal unrest in the party. Another says don’t read anything into it….

Monthly job watch: Terry Branstad promised to add 200,000 jobs in five years. When he made the promise, state nonfarm employment was 1,488,100. In a report issued Friday, the Legislative Services Agency put the current number at 1,501,600. That works out to a gain of about 1,000 a month. At that rate, he’ll reach his goal in 2026. CV