Former MSU Extension instructor and current Ottawa County Commissioner Christian Klienjans is suing three MSU Extension directors, claiming that his First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of association were violated when he was fired from his position at MSU Extension following his victory in an Ottawa County Commission recall election.

The lawsuit was filed on June 21 and alleges that the reasons given for Klienjans’ termination were not legitimate and constituted a “pretext for unlawful discrimination in violation of the First Amendment.”

MSU Extension is a part of Michigan State University that provides educational resources to communities across Michigan. Before his layoff, Klienjans worked as a nutritionist with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education at MSU Extension in Ottawa County.

MSU Extension receives funding from Ottawa County. According to the lawsuit, “funding is provided through contracts between the County and MSU Extension, which must be approved by the Commission.”

On May 7, 2024, Klienjans won a recall election against former Commissioner Lucy Ebel.

He was later informed by defendants Matthew Shane, deputy director of MSU Extension, Michael Korpak, director of MSU Extension District 7, and Erin Moore, deputy director of the MSU Extension Health and Nutrition Institute, that he would be placed on unpaid leave and later terminated if he won a full four-year term in the November 2024 election.

Klienjans was told that his position on the commission would conflict with his role at MSU Extension.

The complaint states that at a meeting with defendants Michael Scott Korpak, Matthew Shane and Erin Moore on May 23, 2024, Shane told Klienjans that “serving both roles would violate a state law prohibiting the holding of multiple ‘incompatible’ public offices.”

In an interview with State News, Klienjans said: “The clear reason why I was given the choices available to me was related to the Incompatible Offices Act.”

“I disagree with its application in this context, simply because it was included in the NCL for a very specific reason that does not apply here,” Klienjans said.

Instead, the lawsuit alleges that MSU Extension directors were not concerned that Kleinjans might violate the Incompatible Public Offices Act. Rather, the real reasons for his firing were his political affiliation as a Democrat, his lack of alignment with the far-right Ottawa Impact (OI) majority on the Ottawa County Commission, and the defendants’ “intimidation and either actual or implied threats of retaliation against MSU Extension” if they did not fire Kleinjans.

The compensation that Klienjans is seeking in his lawsuit includes, among other things, economic damages in the form of back wages, compensation for all non-economic damages such as suffering and stress, penalties and fines, and reimbursement of reasonable attorneys’ fees.

The lawsuit also calls on the defendants to “adopt and maintain a policy of non-discrimination against outside political activities of employees on their own time” and to immediately reinstate Klienjans at MSU Extension.

Ottawa Impact is a far-right political action committee founded in 2022. Candidates supported and funded by OI won eight of eleven seats on the District Commission in 2022, gaining a bloc majority.

The lawsuit alleges that after announcing Klienjan’s candidacy, the OI majority began to punish Klienjans through his employment at MSU Extension.

“On November 17, 2023 – just three days after the announcements … District Administrator John Gibbs notified James Kelly, then interim district director of MSU Extension in Ottawa County, that the Extension contract would not be on the commission’s consent agenda for the next meeting,” the lawsuit states.

After the contract was removed from the agenda, the defendant Moore and Klienjans met and discussed the consequences MSU Extension would face as a result of Klienjans’ candidacy, according to the lawsuit.

“Moore told plaintiff that the controlling OI majority of the Ottawa County Commission was seeking revenge and would seek to defund anyone it deemed to be ‘against’ the OI majority,” the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, “Defendant Moore made it clear that Plaintiff’s candidacy for county office and his work for MSU Extension was only an issue because it occurred in Ottawa County and would not have been an issue in ‘any other county.'”

The lawsuit also alleges that Moore told Klienjans he would have to abstain from voting related to the MSU extension and that Shane assured Klienjans his job was not in jeopardy.

“That’s the part I find almost the most hurtful,” Klienjans told State News. “I was allowed … to operate in the belief that there were viable situations that would allow me to do this without getting into some kind of conflict.”

In an interview with State News, Klienjans’ attorney Sarah Howard explained the next steps.

“We asked the court for an injunction, which means ordering MSU to put him back to work now rather than waiting for the trial,” Howard said. “And we asked for damages so that he can get back pay now that he has been unemployed for several months, even though we believe he should not have. We also asked the court to reimburse him for other statutory damages he is entitled to, such as his attorney’s fees.”

Moore, Shane and Korpak declined requests for interviews from State News.