Jeff Getting Purges Political Rivals

Newly-elected democrat prosecutor Jeff Getting has wasted no time taking on the greatest threats to the citizens of Kalamazoo County.

Incoming Kalamazoo County Prosecutor Jeff Getting dismisses 2 veteran assistants, including election rival

He fired Assistant Prosecutor Scott Pierangeli, his Republican opponent, and Assistant Prosecutor Stuart Fenton.  What did Fenton do?

Fenton said he believes his work on Pierangeli’s campaign may have been a factor in Getting's decision not to retain him, and possibly also that Fenton played a role in Getting’s dismissal by Gregart in 1998.

Getting’s personnel file from the prosecutor’s office contains two memorandums authored by Fenton in 1998 in which he told Gregart and then-Assistant Prosecutor Joe Skocelas of an incident, also witnessed by a Kalamazoo Township Police detective, in Fenton’s office during which Getting became “visibly hostile, and shortly after that he unleashed a verbal tirade that one had to witness to believe.”

“He started yelling loudly, using repeated profanity in the hallway near the copy machine and my office, whereby anyone within the back part of the office could easily hear him.” Fenton wrote. “He lost complete control of himself.

“The substance of the tantrum was not to bother asking his ‘F--- opinion if we were going to ‘F--- argue with him; that he didn’t have the ‘F--- time, etc … It was easily the most professionally embarrassing situation I have witnessed since joining this office.”

Said Fenton on Thursday: “Because of his conduct that occurred with me where he lost his temper and his explosive temper came out, he was fired.

Wait a minute.  What was it that Getting said about his firing during the campaign?

Candidates for Kalamazoo County prosecutor differ on visions for the office

Getting says his departure had nothing to do with job performance and stemmed from disagreements he and Gregart had “about the goals of the office, the people that were being brought into the office and what people’s roles should be.”

“I was challenging him and the way he was leading the office and that resulted in my political appointment being withdrawn,” Getting said.

So basically Getting is a big stinking liar.  And now he's the most powerful person in Kalamazoo County.

Fenton also surmised that Getting's decision to jettison him and Pierangeli may stem from promises that Fenton said Getting made of “some position to some of the people that have been helping him on his campaign.”

“There were no current openings in our office, so he had to make some room for them,” Fenton said.

We will see if Getting appoints people with ties to his campaign or the local democrat party.

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