Bonnie Rateree, Ken Vaughn, William Gardner, Leander Brown, Plaintiffs v. Damon Rockett, Frank Piekarski, Otis Gilmore

BAUER, Chief Judge.

Bonnie Rateree, Kenneth Vaughn, William Gardner, Leander Brown, and Renee Gholson sued the City of Harvey, Illinois (Harvey) and three City Commissioners— Damon Rockett, Frank Piekarski, and Otis Gilmore — under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, claiming violations of their first and fourteenth amendment rights. The plaintiffs, city employees, claim they were harassed because of their political views and that all plaintiffs except Gholson eventually were fired for purely political reasons. The district court dismissed the plaintiffs’ complaint, holding that the defendants’ actions were…