Energy & Environment

Investigation clears Flint mayor in donations probe

An investigator has cleared the mayor of Flint, Mich., of wrongdoing in a probe involving allegations of improper political donations. 

A former city employee has accused Mayor Karen Weaver of steering donations from a clean drinking water charitable fund to her political action committee. 

{mosads}But an independent attorney investigating the matter announced Monday that he “cannot find any evidence of unethical conduct by Mayor Karen Weaver,” the Detroit News reports

The former Flint city administrator last month filed a lawsuit against Weaver saying she was improperly fired in February after raising questions about charitable funds possibly going to Weaver’s political accounts. 

The funds were earmarked for a charity helping Flint families dealing with the city’s ongoing drinking water crisis. But the city administrator, Natasha Henderson, said another Weaver aide indicated she was asked to instead forward those donations to a Weaver political fund. 

Henderson, who had previously worked under the state-appointed emergency manager, was fired two days later. 

According to the Detroit News, an independent attorney inspected bank statements associated with Weaver political committees and determined none of the charitable donations had gone into those accounts. 

“They’re allegations, and that they’re not true,” Weaver said at a press conference.