Glendale – Civil Rights activists gathered on Wednesday outside of the Arizona Attorney General’s office to demand that Glendale mayoral candidate Michelle Robertson drop out of the race immediately. Roberson is accused of making “baseless and retaliatory accusations” against a black male coworker.
Robertson’s victim, a man identified as Zeek Ojeh, filed a Notice of Claim involving complaints against his and Ms. Robertson’s employer, the Cartwright School District.
According to the complaint, Mr. Ojeh, who served as the school district’s Chief Financial Officer, was unjustly terminated after blowing the whistle on the school district’s superintendent and school board members. Ojeh’s whistleblower actions followed attempts the district officials to award a nearly $1.5 million contract without first conducting a competitive bidding process. Corruption allegations remain unanswered.
After raising concerns with the school district’s leadership, Mr. Ojeh became the victim of a curiously timed and meritless “complaint of a sexual nature” made by Ms. Robertson. The school district also retaliated against Ojeh, forcing him to work from home without access to emails and work documents. Shortly after, Ojeh was fired.
The civil rights activists, led by Rev. Jarrett Barton Maupin, Jr. said in a press release that they will also be filing a complaint with the Arizona Attorney General seeking an “immediate investigation into any financial and ethical improprieties of the Cartwright School District’s leadership, including the superintendent and any school board members responsible for attempting to force Mr. Ojeh to break the law, retaliating and creating a hostile working environment for Mr. Ojeh after his whistleblower complaint, and for their roles in fabricating any sexually-focused complaints against Mr. Ojeh when he refused to cave in to unethical demands.”
According to the group, they will also ask the Attorney General to investigate Ms. Robertson and determine if Mr. Ojeh, himself, is indeed the victim of sexual harassment.
The group claims that Maricopa County Superior Court records “appear to show” that Ms. Robertson falsely accused her ex-husband (Mr. William Joseph Knight) of sexually molesting a daughter. A court appointed psychologist would later testify that no molestation had occurred and Knight was granted visitation rights with his children.