GRAND RAPIDS — The newest commissioner for Ottawa County is claiming that he was wrongfully terminated from his job at Michigan State University’s Extension Office, after coming forward recently that he was politically penalized for running for office.

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.

“(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,” Kleinjans’ attorney, Sarah Riley-Howard wrote in the filing. “The OI majority placed political pressure on Defendants to retaliate against Plaintiff for Plaintiff running against and winning a recall election to unseat their political ally, Lucy Ebel. (MSU) do not have a non-discriminatory reason to fire (Kleinjans) and have merely capitulated to the OI majority.”

The claim comes after Kleijans, who worked for MSU Extension for more than a dozen years, 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.

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

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 in May 2024.

Two weeks later, he was informed by MSU that his continued employment was in jeopardy.

“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.

The candidate filing deadline was April 23, and Kleinjans had already filed at the time of the May 23 meeting. Shane goes on to explain that the university’s legal counsel “came back” with the leave suggestion after Kleinjans was elected.

In Friday’s filing, Howard said Commissioners Allison Miedema and Joe Moss, who currently chairs the board and is the president of Ottawa Impact, “applied pressure to (MSU) to fire or move (Kleinjan’s) employment, and otherwise negatively impact (Kleinjan’s) working conditions and livelihood, in an effort to deter a viable candidate from running against Ebel.”

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.

“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.

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The litigation comes 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.

“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.”

Moss and Miedema did not return a request for comment Monday morning.

Shane also indicated in the Dec. 14 meeting that Kleinjans had the support of the Extension leadership and was not at risk of an employment change.

“Our stance is our stance,” he says on the recording. “From the beginning, we have these policies in place for a reason. We are adhering to those policies. As long as you adhere to the guidelines that we've put in place for you, you're not in violation of those policies, we do not plan to change our stance on the work that you're doing. We're not planning to relocate you to another county. We're not planning to change your work responsibilities in any way other than what we've already asked you to do, in terms of not wearing logo wear.”

Shane tells Kleinjans that Moss and Miedema requested a response by the next week and that Extension leadership was slow walking that reply.

“The board asked for a response from us of what we were going to do about this request. We're also not going to be in a big hurry to provide that response,” he says in the recording.

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

When Kleijnas asked to transfer to another county if MSU Extension was concerned about a conflict of interest with Ottawa County, Shane said Kleiajans was “oversimplifying” the alleged problem.

“Because Extension is a statewide, county-wide organization that has many partnerships in Ottawa County and connections that you work with that have some connection to Ottawa County government ... there’s a lot of implications of how Extension does work in the county,” Shane told Kleinjans on May 23. “It’s not necessarily just about one contract and one budget vote. That’s not where the university sees the conflict. Inherently, that’s part of it, but it’s not the whole of it. ... Because of the nature of the work that we do within the county, it’s impossible to separate the work of Extension and the role of county commissioner.”

Kleinjans v MSU145KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadRead the lawsuit filed against Michigan State University on June 21, 2024.Download

Howard said there was an ulterior motive beyond what Kleinjans was told.

According to Howard, the real reason MSU put Kleinjans on unpaid leave with a plan to fire him if he won a regular four-year term in November was because of:

• Kleinjans’ political membership in the Democratic Party and filing to run as a Democrat
• His lack of alignment with the OI majority
• The OI majority’s intimidation of MSU and either actual or implied threat of retaliation against MSU Extension if MSU Extension did not terminate Kleinjans’ employment.

“Had (Kleinjans) decided he needed to withdraw from the race because he could not permanently risk his employment with MSU Extension by running and potentially winning a regular four-year term in November 2024, his withdrawal from the race would have meant there was no Democrat on the ballot in the District 2 Commission election — and no opposition candidate on the ballot to whoever won the Republican primary, which includes the recalled Ebel,” Howard wrote.

Howard also noted that Kleinjans received an email from interim county Administrator Jon Anderson two days after he was terminated from MSU, indicating that the board majority might have sought the same outcome had MSU not taken action.

“Hi Chris - hope all is well and you’re settling in,” Anderson wrote June 6. “I had a reminder from my notes to check with you about your position with MSU. I do not have any personal knowledge about a potential conflict of interest, but I recall there was a question about a potential conflict when you were elected. If there is anything you need, please reach out.”

Howard said there is a clear hypocrisy to allow Anderson, who had no prior experience as a county administrator and yet was still appointed to the role — after he filed to run as the OI-vetted candidate for county sheriff — and yet take issue with Kleinjans.

“Anderson has no prior experience as a county administrator or in county administration. However, Anderson is the OI-endorsed candidate for county sheriff in the November 2024 election. There has been no mention at a public meeting about a conflict of interest with (Kleinjans’) board service and his job with MSU Extension. The most likely reason that Anderson would have raised this issue with (Kleinjans) is because of private direction from the OI majority related to (Kleinjans’) job,” Howard wrote.

The lawsuit is seeking Kleinjans to be returned to his employment position and to award Kleinjans back wages, as well as punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.

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