OTTAWA COUNTY, MI — A newly elected Democrat to the Ottawa County Council has filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was fired from office due to political pressure.
Chris Kleinjans, who won the May recall election, claims his First Amendment rights were violated when he was fired June 4 from his job as a community nutrition instructor with Michigan State University Extension.
His lawyer, Sarah Howard, argues that his bosses “have bowed, and continue to bow, to political pressure from the (Ottawa Impact) majority on the Ottawa County Board.”
Ottawa Impact is a conservative political platform that won a majority on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners following the November 2022 election. Eight members affiliated with the platform won seats on the 11-seat board.
The lawsuit names three Michigan State University Extension supervisors as defendants.
In a statement after his June 4 firing, Kleinjans said his superiors told him his work as an Ottawa County commissioner violated the state’s unfitness for public office law because of his role with Michigan State University Extension.
Related: A newly elected Democrat on the Ottawa County Commission will have a limited role on the committee.
But Howard, the attorney, said evidence shows Michigan State University Extension administrators met with Ottawa County Commission Chairman Joe Moss and Commissioner Allison Miedema in December to discuss a contract with the Extension Service that the county had not approved at the time.
The meeting was scheduled for November, but took place just one day after Kleinjans announced he would run as the Democratic candidate against 2nd District Commissioner Lucy Ebel in the May recall election.
Howard alleges that Kleinjans later learned that Moss and Miedema wanted to transfer Howard to “another county, another location or another job” and believed Howard’s job would be a conflict of interest.
Kleinjian’s employment issue was not raised again by Michigan State University Extension supervisors until after the May election, which Kleinjian won.
Related: Democrats won the recall election in Republican-majority Ottawa County. Was that a sign?
According to the lawsuit, Michigan State University Extension administrators summoned Kleinjans to a meeting on May 23 and placed him on unpaid leave pending the results of the November election, in which he will again face Ebel.
Kleinjans fought the decision to put him on administrative leave and was fired on June 4th.
“Defendants had no non-discriminatory reason for firing Plaintiff and simply caved to the OI majority,” Howard wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks Kleinjans’ return to work and compensation for lost wages and damages.
Moss and Michigan State University Extension officials did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
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