Former DeKalb County Assistant State’s Attorney Ellen Pauling and Republican candidate for circuit judge, is accusing the state’s attorney’s office of age discrimination.

On April 27, Pauling was dismissed from her job as a DeKalb County assistant state’s attorney.

Pauling, 56, said she was never given a reason for her dismissal and said she believes she was fired because of her age.

Democratic State’s Attorney Ron Matekaitis said she was told the reason for her dismissal when she was fired.

“The reason she is no longer in the office was explained to her, but I will not comment beyond that,” Matekaitis said.

He said that while in the office, Pauling was an excellent worker, but said that for reasons he does not want to make public, he was forced to dismiss her.

With the upcoming elections in mind, Matekaitis said he feels some people may be making politically motivated charges against him.

“Ultimately, I trust the public and the voters to see through this for what it is,” Matekaitis said. “The closer charges like these come to an election, the more suspicious you have to be about them.”

Pauling claims she was fired due to age discrimination because younger assistant state’s attorneys, whose situation and job performance were comparable to hers, did not get fired, Pauling said.

After she was let go, Pauling decided to do some research.

“After I got fired, I got interested in employment law,” Pauling said. “I thought that if I’m being discriminated against, it would be stupid for me not to do anything about it.”

Pauling said she called a friend she knew from attending George Mason law school. He is now an equal employment opportunity claims investigator.

“I wanted to find out more about employment laws, so he suggested that I take an [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] seminar in Chicago. I found that I had a case [for age discrimination],” Pauling said.

The Illinois Department of Human Rights and the EEOC took action, and a discrimination charge was filed Sept. 17.

Because of the length of time it took to file charges, some question Pauling’s intentions.

Eileen Dubin, DeKalb County Central Committee chairwoman, agreed that it is a strange time for all of this to come out, since it happened about six months ago.

“I was surprised to hear about her leaving [the State’s Attorneys Office] after being there for four years under Matekaitis,” Dubin said. “I’m assuming she was competent if she’d been there that long.”

Dubin said she never knew whether Pauling left on her own terms or was forced out, but said when an election is approaching, attacks on character should be taken with skepticism.

“The whole Matekaitis-Campbell race hasn’t been real nice to begin with, so that is another thing to take into consideration,” Dubin said.