Mullin Over Some Severance Awards Some More

Did I Call It or What?

Turkia Awada Mullin may have case against Wayne County airport board

Turkia Awada Mullin sued the Wayne County Airport Authority on Thursday, seeking to answer what might end up a $700,000 question.

Why was she fired?

Methinks this is either the greatest demonstration of Wayne County Incompetence or the fix is well and truly in on this case to make sure Mullin was to be compensated well for losing her 200k "severance payment" from the county.

It sure looks like the firing was deliberately done wrong:

[Turkia's attorney] Sterling did obtain a copy of Mullin's personnel file, which he said contained no indication that Mullin had done anything wrong.

"Unfortunately for them, they can only go by what's in the file," Sterling said.

Give up $200k, get $700k, its the Wayne County Way.

Mullin Makes Out - The Costs of Corruption In Wayne County

Just as I predicted, Wayne County's Turkia Mullin is getting paid $712K plus as this little corruption kabuki dance comes to an end.

The Detroit News: Arbitrator: Turkia Mullin to get $700K from airport

Turkia Mullin will receive the remainder of her contract — more than $700,000 — after an arbitrator ruled she was wrongly fired as CEO of the Wayne County Airport Authority.

"It's a major, major victory," her attorney, Raymond Sterling, said Thursday afternoon, as he was digesting the opinion. "It's a complete exoneration. The arbitrator ruled she did a great job and a binding, legal contract."

The Thursday ruling from retired Wayne Circuit Court Judge Paul Teranes ruled that Mullin is entitled to the remainder of three-year contract, $712,000, and awarded her nearly $100,000 in legal fees. He denied her bid for lifetime health care and another $750,000 on claims her contract would have been renewed and more money for damages.

"It's a damn shame," said former airport board member Bernard Parker. "I think we did have cause. She did lie to us and misrepresent things. It's a lot of money that could have gone into the airport that will now go into her pocket."

Mullin, a former Wayne County economic development director, was hired in September 2011 for the $250,000 per year job and fired less than two months later amid news that she received a $200,000 severance from the county. Subpoenas and federal documents have since identified her as the target of an ongoing FBI investigation.

The ruling comes one week after depositions and documents were released showing the airport fired Mullin on claims she was dishonest. Teranes ruled that Mullin's actions "were not dishonest."

The 17-page opinion was a stinging rebuke of the airport, which has faced criticism for months that it concocted a sham search to appoint a crony of County Executive Robert Ficano as CEO of the airport. His spokeswoman, June West, declined comment.

Let's see - she was a crony hired as a result of a corrupt job search, received a crony corrupt severance fee from Wayne county, then was fired in a botched manner that gave her a golden opportunity to get her paid and she doesn't even have to work for the money.

But don't worry, this won't come out of the pockets of Wayne County Taxpayers, as the Airport Authority is a separate entity, so this payoff will come out of the pockets of airline passengers and airlines - is that convenient or what?

The fix was well and truly in on this one, Democrat Wayne County style.

Mullin Over Severance Award(s)

So let's see if I get the logic of the Mullin scandal right here:

Turkia Mullin voluntarily left her position at Wayne County to take a job as CEO of the Wayne County Airport Authority, a job that she was hired for without a national search, and received a nice big $200,000 severance payment as she left one Wayne County agency to go to another.

This led to a hue and cry once the Democrat establishment in Wayne County was caught gaming the system and gifting its top-tier members sweetheart deals, at least this time.

This led to the firing of Mullin from the Airport Authority. This was to punish her for being part of such a sweetheart deal (with the alleged real reason being that she overstated her accomplishments at Wayne County, but considering she was sloted into position with any real competition, that seems a bit specious).

Guess What? The firing means Turkia Mullin will get a $700,000 severance payment.

That really showed her.

It is certainly good to be in the top tier of a corrupt Democrat administration now isn't it? Heads she wins, tails she wins, and the taxpayers of Wayne County pay in any case.

Wayne Airport Authority's Latest Defense: We Illegally Hired Mullin So We Shouldn't Have To Pay Her For Illegally Firing Her, Right?"

You can't make this stuff up.

The Detroit Free Press: Airport board: We broke the law in hiring Turkia Awada Mullin

The excuse is this: We broke the law hiring her, so its ok that we broke the law firing her.

In Wayne County, the logic seems to be" Since two wrongs can make a right, and two Wrights can make an airplane, then two bad decisions by an Airport Authority can relieve it of liability.

The board that hired and then fired Turkia Awada Mullin as CEO of Metro Airport last year now claims in a court filing that it broke the law when it hired her.

The Wayne County Airport Authority hopes that making the admission will get it off the hook for the more than $700,000 that Mullin says she is owed in severance under the terms of a contract that agreed to pay her $250,000 a year for three years.

Mullin was fired in October, after only a couple of months on the job. She was mired in controversy because of a $200,000 severance payment she got when she left as Wayne County's economic development chief to take the airport job.

The authority's legal motion, filed Jan. 18 but not previously reported, says the board illegally delegated its obligation to negotiate and approve contracts by designating one board member to negotiate with Mullin and another to sign the deal without bringing it back to the board.

As I said before, the fix really seems to be in on this one. If this is the best defense they've got for firing her, I think we can start attributing the incompetence to malice rather than just run of the mill Wayne County Democrat stupidity.

One claim of wrongdoing hardly vitiates a subsequent wrongdoing by the same party. This bizarre argument is a reverse unclean hands defense: I acted in bad faith and unethically before, so that should prevent me from being liable for acting in bad faith and unethically now.

Yep, that defense will fly.

Yet More Wayne County Corrupt Severance Payouts?

This certainly doesn't look good for County Executive Ficano, nor for his staff for that matter.

Former Wayne County Deputy Executive Azzam Elder is suing his onetime boss, Executive Robert Ficano, alleging he concocted more than a dozen secret severance deals — including one to Elder for at least $300,000.

The whistleblower suit filed Wednesday alleges that Ficano and his staff intentionally misled the public and the media about a $200,000 severance to former economic development director Turkia Mullin in September.

Its that Detroit-Area Democrat culture of corruption once again rearing its ugly severance package.

Grandiose enrichment of high-ranking executives is easy to hide under the rug in good times. Now, as Wayne County is feeling the pinch and running out of its citizen's money to burn, a lot more of these corrupt cushy deals will keep coming to light.

Diogenes' lamp would have long ago spluttered out of oil had he been searching in Wayne County.