OTTAWA COUNTY — Board of Commissioners Chair Joe Moss pressured Michigan State University’s Extension Office leadership to push a political rival out of Ottawa County, new emails show.

Chris Kleinjans, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit Friday, June 21, in the Western District of U.S. District Court claiming MSU’s Extension violated his First Amendment Rights after giving him an ultimatum: Take an unpaid leave through the remainder of the year or face termination.

Read more: Was Ottawa County's newest commissioner punished for running?

In the lawsuit, Kleinjans’ attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard, said MSU’s “actual reason” for the decision to place Kleinjans on unpaid leave and ultimately to fire him from his job is that they “have bowed, and are bowing, to political pressure from the (Ottawa Impact) majority on the Ottawa County Commission” in order to assist an OI political ally.

Ottawa Impact is a far-right fundamentalist group formed in 2021 over frustrations with the county and state over COVID-19 mitigation measures.

Since taking office in January 2023, OI commissioners pushed through a series of controversial decisions, resulting in several lawsuits against the county. A recall petition targeted one OI commissioner — Lucy Ebel — and Kleinjans ultimately defeated her by a 20% margin on May 7.

The lawsuit came after Kleijans, who worked for MSU Extension for more than a dozen years as a community nutrition specialist, confirmed that he was dismissed June 4 after the school decided his employment was “incompatible” with his new elected office representing District 2 on the board of commissioners.

“We're trying to find the smoothest path of transition for you to work through as you go through this interim position,” Matt Shane, associate director of the Extension’s field operations, explains in an audio recording from May 23 during a meeting with Kleinjans. “And I know that you see potentially a path where both roles simultaneously is a realistic opportunity. Unfortunately, as we look at it from the guidelines … we can't find that path to where you would be able to serve in both capacities.”

Shane then explains that Kleinjans’ only option is to take a leave of absence through the remainder of his current partial term and to “separate” from the university should he seek re-election in November and win.

MSU didn’t return requests for comment on the termination.

The litigation came after audio recordings were released in which Shane tells Kleinjans that Moss and Miedema pressured MSU Extension leadership to move the Democrat’s work out of the county or face the possibility that their annual contract with Ottawa County would not be up for renewal.

Read more: Ottawa County commissioner files federal lawsuit against MSU Extension for wrongful termination

“Throughout the course of the conversation, obviously it shifted a little bit to some of our work with Ottawa Food in particular, and your role with them, and … your membership on the board, and those things. So that was all discussed and addressed in fairly generic terms. [They] talked about … you stepping down from that board and separating from those responsibilities,” Shane told Kleinjans in an audio recording dated Dec. 14.

“Their basic request, if you will, throughout the course of that conversation, was that they wanted your responsibilities for work in Ottawa County to cease and do your work in another county, another location, or in some other fashion, not representing MSU Extension in Ottawa County during the course of your campaign, and in essence, without that, the MOA would not be up for further discussion,” Shane tells Kleinjans on Dec. 14 recording.

“So right now … the MOA for Ottawa County will be on hold indefinitely, or at least for the foreseeable future, and not make it on a board agenda to have further discussion, which obviously has impact on our 4-H and agriculture programs,” he says on the recording.

Shane also says Moss and Miedema insinuated that the Extension’s office space in the county would be in jeopardy.

“There was also some mention in that meeting about how highly desirable our Ottawa County MSU Extension space is in that building, and that there are other departments that certainly would benefit from having access to that space as they look at restructuring some of their other departments and forming other departments and offices within the county,” Shane tell Kleinjans on the recording. “They're sort of holding up our MOA and relationship with Ottawa County government while you're continuing to work as an MSU Extension employee in Ottawa County and running a campaign at the same time.”

Emails provided Wednesday, July 10, from MSU after a FOIA request by this reporter seemingly confirm that at least Moss made the request of Extension to move Kleinjans out of the county.

FOIA response Leach 666KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadResponse to request for all communications between MSU Extension leadership and Joe Moss, Allison Miedeman and John Gibbs December-January.Download

“Our Extension leadership and university counsel reviewed your request to have us relocate Christian, and have determined that we are unable to implement requests that would violate an employee's rights to participate in political activities outside of their workdays and hours,” James Kelly, district director for Extension, wrote in an email to Moss on Jan. 5, indicating a second meeting took place after the initial Dec. 7 meeting when the request was first made.

“There are multiple employee rights that we believe this action would potentially infringe,” he wrote, listing:

“1. First Amendment — Because we are a governmental employer, staff have protection related to what they say as a private citizen about a matter of public concern.

2. Political persuasion — Taking action because of staffs (sic) political persuasion is prohibited under the Anti-Discrimination Policy (The claim might be that MSU gave in to demands by a group who was anti-Democrat).

3. Off-duty conduct/invasion of privacy — There is no employment policy that permits us to take this adverse action against an employee because of conduct that had nothing to do with his employment and on the basis of conduct that was separate from work on his own private time.”

The action could be a violation of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners’ bylaws, which state: “The authority of the Board is a collective one, and according to state law, no individual Member can assume any action, decision or endeavor on behalf of or in lieu of Board action. (MCL 46.11)”

Email From Kelly To Moss Jan37.4KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadEmails from MSU Extension's James Kelly to Ottawa County Board Chair Joe Moss.Download

Moss, in a subsequent email Dec. 15, tells Kelly and M. Scott Korpak: “You mentioned wanting to better understand the types of information one of your employees was posting publicly on social media. You state that your team at MSU Extension are strictly non-political, and do not use their position of authority for personal or political reasons.”

He goes on to write in the email that several of Kleinjans’ social media posts around in December 2023 were “false and inflammatory” because they said, among other things that “children in District 2 are going to go hungry bc (sic) Ottawa Food will be eliminated” and that “District 2 families that are struggling will lose access to dental care for their children.”

The comments reference Ottawa Food — a collaboration of over 45 local agencies and individuals that exists to ensure all Ottawa County residents have access to healthy, local and affordable food choices — announcing in November 2023 it was suspending operations after the board made deep cuts to the county’s public health department.

Moss has insisted the funding was there, despite Administrative Health Officer Adeline Hambley saying the cuts would lead to the potential demise of the food collective.

“The board was abundantly clear, the Ottawa Food program should continue, and be a priority,” Moss wrote to Kelly and Korpak on Dec. 15.

In March, Ottawa Food also suspended Senior Project Fresh, a popular service that helps older adults eat healthier as they age.

"Unfortunately, due to cuts to the health department's budget and the resulting loss of staff, OCDPH is unable to provide the Senior Project Fresh program for residents in 2024. We apologize for this inconvenience," Ottawa Food announced on March 28.

Moss and Miedema did not return a request for comment Thursday.

The new emails show that this reporter, who was then employed at The Holland Sentinel, requested comment on the delayed approval of the MSU Extension’s contract with the county. That then prompted Kelly to urge Moss to approve the contract so the dispute wouldn’t be made public.

“Hi Joe. It seems the issue of our delayed contract becoming a more public issue is on the verge of breaking out. We had a request from the Holland Sentinel to provide some insight as to why our contract was being delayed. They referenced in their email both the connection with Ottawa Food and the connection to Christian's candidacy as the potential reason for the delay,” Kelly wrote to Moss on Jan. 8. “I would love to be able to respond to that request saying that the contract is due to be on the upcoming agenda and that we do not anticipate any issues at this point.

“We will hold off on responding to The Sentinel but would like to send them a positive response as soon as possible. Please let me know if there has been any developments, one way or the other, as soon as possible.”

Emails Regarding Sentinel Request For Comment39.8KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadEmails from MSU Extension to Joe Moss in response to Sarah Leach's inquiry on the delay of the contract with Ottawa County.Download

About two hours later that same day, Moss responded:

“Hi James and Scott,

“Thanks for reaching out. Yes, the contract is slated for the next board agenda. I appreciate you both taking time to meet with commissioners to explain more about MSU Extension. We look forward to learning more and working with Scott in 2024.

“Have a great evening.”

Kelly then responds Jan. 9: Thanks Joe. We will look forward to seeing it on the agenda released on Friday. I appreciate your action on this item.”

For his part, Kleinjans said he didn’t hear any updates after Dec. 14 from Extension leadership.

The board of commissioners put the contract on the agenda for its Jan. 16 meeting and was approved unanimously without discussion.

Howard said Kleinjans became a target after helping Ottawa Food — a collaboration of over 45 local agencies and individuals that exists to ensure all Ottawa County residents have access to healthy, local and affordable food choices — issue a news release announcing it was suspending operations after the board made deep cuts to the county’s public health department.

“During budget negotiations, it was brought up repeatedly that the Board of Commissioners didn’t want to see Ottawa Food operations reduced or eliminated. However, they also knew that by reducing the Health Education budget, this was a highly probable outcome,” according to a media release from the advisory board dated Nov. 13.

“Prior to the final budget vote on Sept. 26, listening sessions were held with Ottawa Food members to determine possible paths forward. Following the cuts made in late September, 76% of Ottawa Food members voted to pause the model of Ottawa Food as it’s been operating, rather than continue without a full-time coordinator.”

Kleinjans, then a member of the Ottawa Food Advisory Board, was listed as the media contact on that news release.

“The OI majority also hoped to punish and retaliate against (Kleinjans) for his political opposition to the OI majority’s budget cuts that led to the elimination of the Ottawa Food coordinator, and the OI majority applied pressure to (MSU) to punish (Kleinjans) for this reason as well,” Howard wrote in the filing.

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“The OI majority applied pressure to (MSU) to fire or move (Kleinjans’) employment, and otherwise negatively impact (his) working conditions and livelihood, in an effort to deter a viable candidate from running against Ebel. Finally, the OI majority also hoped to punish and retaliate against (Kleinjans) for his political opposition to the OI majority’s budget cuts that led to the elimination of the Ottawa Food coordinator, and the OI majority applied pressure to (MSU) to punish (Kleinjans) for this reason as well,” according to the lawsuit.

“(MSU) do not have a non-discriminatory reason to fire (Kleinjans) and have merely capitulated to the OI majority,” Howard wrote in the filing.

— Contact Sarah Leach at SentinelLeach@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach. Subscribe to her content at sentinelleach.substack.com.