Former city administrator of Flint, Michigan, Natasha Henderson, is suing Flint mayor Karen Weaver, for firing her when she expressed concerns about the mayor’s embezzlement. According to Henderson Mayor Karen Weaver ordered city employees to stop donations for Safe Water/Safe Homes, a charity to aid residents affected by the water crises and told Maxine Murray to redirect the money to “KarenaboutFlint.” That was Weaver’s campaign slogan. Murray was afraid that if she followed the orders of the mayor, she could go to jail, so she told Henderson about it.
“Karen About Flint” was Weaver’s campaign slogan during her 2015 mayoral election — there are no references to a “KarenaboutFlint” organization in Michigan’s tax registries, according to CNN.
The lawsuit further claimed the move was made without the knowledge of the city council, nor that of the control board created for the purpose of overseeing Flint’s transition to state control.
Weaver managed to defeat a Democratic primary opponent using a message that state officials were not doing enough to protect Flint from lead-tainted water.
Mayor Weaver fired Henderson in February, stating it was important to institute a personal change to help address the water crisis.
Weaver claimed she fired Henderson because:
“I’m doing what I told the people who voted for me that I would do. My focus is moving the City of Flint forward and I feel these personnel changes are necessary to keep us on the right path.”
After Henderson told the city attorney about the money being redirected, the mayor unilaterally fired Her, even though her contrac6t said she could only be fired through an agreement with the mayor, the city council and water crisis transition team.
Another curious thing happened in Flint at about the same time. The office containing all the documents pertaining to the Flint water crises was broken into and only a television was stolen. (Supposedly) The break in occurred just before federal agents came to sift through the documents to discover who was responsible for the crises. That would have been the previous administration and not Weaver’s.