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"Activist targets Detroit airport official"
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Activist targets airport official
Gov takes no action on removal request over Mullin hiring
By Christine MacDonald and Chad Livengood
The Detroit (MI) News
Detroit- Gov. Rick Snyder isn't hurrying to act on a request from a union
activist to remove a Wayne County Airport Authority member over Turkia
Mullin's hiring as CEO.
"This is an evolving issue, what's going on with the county," Snyder said in
an interview with The Detroit News. "As things evolve, I'm sure we'll do our
duty to follow through."
Union activist Robert Davis, who is suing the airport authority over the
search, asked Snyder in a letter dated Tuesday to remove Suzanne Hall. The
letter claims Hall has admitted she illegally negotiated Mullin's contract
on the airport's behalf.
In the letter, Davis' attorney, Andrew Paterson, cites a provision in
Mullin's three-year contract that required the airport to pay her unpaid
salary - roughly $700,000 - if fired without cause. Paterson deemed the
clause "simply outrageous."
"Sue Hall orchestrated the whole conspiracy," Davis said. Mullin was hired
as CEO in August, began in September and was fired for unspecified reasons
on Oct. 31. Mullin has sued over her firing, while Davis is challenging her
hiring and persuaded a judge to rule that the process violated the Open
Meetings Act.
Airport authority lawyers have argued in court papers that Mullin's contract
was illegal - and should be void - because members delegated Hall to
negotiate it and it wasn't approved by the full board. Hall said she was
following the wishes of the board.
The contract - including the provision for a severance - was nearly
identical to ones for Mullin's predecessors, said Hall, a former Southgate
mayor who was appointed to the board by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
The FBI is investigating the hiring.
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