Today in a district court in MI, ex-Flint City Administrator Natasha Henderson alleged that she was sacked from her position after reporting that Flint Mayor Karen Weaver had directed underlings to divert money intended for a clean water charity to her personal campaign PAC.
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City Administrator Natasha Henderson filed the wrongful termination lawsuit in federal court in Detroit, asserting that she was sacked hours after she asked Flint’s chief legal counsel to investigate her suspicions about mayor Karen Weaver.
A former city administrator says she was sacked for telling Flint’s legal counsel that the mayor tried to divert charity funds to her PAC. Henderson shared Murray’s concerns with the city’s interim chief legal counsel Anthony Chubb three times between February 9 and February 12, when she was called into Weaver’s office and fired, according to the lawsuit.
Weaver told Henderson that she was sacked because MI authorities “indicated that the state of MI could no longer fund Ms. Henderson’s salary”.
CNN reports that the city has declined comment citing the pending litigation.
Henderson’s lawsuit alleged that Mayor Karen Weaver ordered her assistant and a volunteer to redirect donors from a local fund set up to help families affected by the water crisis to her political action committee instead. Considering that Henderson was under contract, Weaver had to show some cause for the dismissal other than her own desire to move her own people into those positions, or just for a “fresh start”. However, it’s important to note that “Karen About Flint” was Weaver’s campaign slogan back in 2015 when she first ran for mayor.
About three days after reporting the situation to Flint’s top legal counsel and requesting an investigation, Henderson was sacked by Weaver.
“She was blown away, she was recruited by city of Flint to help save and help resolve the issues”, said attorney Katherine Smith Kennedy.
The lawsuit-filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of MI in Flint-claims that Henderson’s rights under the Whistleblowers Protection Act and the First Amendment were violated.
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She advised further questions to be directed to city’s attorney Kendall Williams, who will handle the case. The charges allege that Glasgow signed a document falsely claiming that the homes where the city tested tap water all had lead service lines. “She did the right thing by reporting it and was punished for it”. Henderson seeks “unpaid wages, [and] compensatory and punitive damages” from the city, according to Michigan Live. “Responses to allegations made in any civil complaint are provided by legal counsel retained by the city of Flint”.
