Whistleblower Lawsuit Filed in Long-Running Bloomfield Township Feud

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Bloomfield Township Treasurer Dan Devine has filed a lawsuit against the township and Supervisor Leo Savoie under Michigan’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act in which Devine claims that officials engaged in a campaign of retaliation with the end goal of removing him from office.

In the 11-page complaint filed in Oakland County Circuit Court Thursday, Devine claims that township officials worked together to retaliate against him after he reported alleged violations of township ordinances relating to sewer construction, and Savoie’s alleged violation of Michigan campaign finance disclosure laws and bribe-taking, among other things.

Devine, an attorney with more than two decades of public service and the township’s treasurer since 1999, seeks a jury trial and a financial judgment to compensate for “loss of career opportunities, diminishment of business and personal reputation, emotional distress, and attorney fees and costs.”

Among a series of “aggressive, proactive and retaliatory actions against Devine” were several that specifically fall under the whistleblower protection law, his attorney, Daniel D. Swanson, of Southfield, told Patch.

In July, the township Board of Trustees voted, 5-2, to censure Devine for misconduct in office, ostensibly because he accused Savoie of kidnapping his adult daughter. The woman, a classroom teacher who had shut off her phone, turned up unharmed few hours after he reported her missing on May 1. Devine later apologized.

However, Swanson said the censure action was a legal maneuver intended to trigger a statutory process permitting the governor to remove him from office. Devine isn’t up for re-election until November 2016.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing Savoie and others from “further retaliatory actions.” It also seeks unspecified damages for loss of career opportunities, loss of reputation and esteem in the community, and mental and emotional distress.

The lawsuit specifically mentions incidents in which Devine claims efforts were made to discredit or threaten him:

• At an April 13, 2015 meeting, Savoie proposed reducing Devine’s full-time position to part-time without prior independent review or analysis of of the position, or any other executive offices. At the time, Savoie indicated he had conducted an 11-month secret surveillance of Devine and accused him of not working full-time, “carelessly performing his duties, and failing to “perform a full range of administrative duties.”
• On April 29, 2015, Devine alleges that Savoie burst into the treasurer’s office and berated Devine for having filed a campaign finance complaint against Savoie with state officials in August 2014. Devine claims he felt threatened and “stepped away from Savoie so as to have a conference table between them.”
• At its July 13, 2015 Board of Trustees meeting where the censure vote was taken, the board claimed a “series of irregularities attributable to the township treasurer” and conduct by Devine that “brought both ridicule and embarrassment” to the township.

In the censure vote, which Devine believes Savoie instigated, the board cited various actions by Devine in support of its determination that he engaged in “official misconduct,” among them:

• Allegations that Savoie had kidnapped his daughter;
• Allegations that Savoie approved a $30,000 bonus for a retired employee;
• Allegations that Savoie violated campaign finance laws by accepting a $2,500 campaign contribution from the contractor in a $1.2 million sewer contract that Devine believed was inappropriate under township ordinances.

“Mr. Devine describes himself as a nerd and process-and-procedure guy who is concerned about the law,” Swanson said, adding Devine’s forthright management style has drawn criticism from other township officials.

Savoie did not immediately return Patch’s phone call and email seeking comment.

Read the petition below.