by P.D. Lesko

Alize Asberry Payne, the Dir. of Washtenaw County’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Dept. resigned her position on Aug. 16, according to an August 20, 2024 email from the County Administrator Gregory Dill. Asberry Payne had been put on a paid leave of absence on April 21, 2024, according to public records. The County Administrator conducted no investigation of Asberry Payne. While on paid leave, in just four months Alize Asberry Payne collected over $43,000 in pay and benefits. In addition, Asberry Payne cashed out hundreds of vacation, sick and personal hours worth tens of thousands of dollars. Her pay records also show while on paid leave, and even as she cashed out her hours, she accrued an additional 69 hours of sick leave, personal and vacation leave. Records show that since January 2024, Alize Asberry Payne netted $97,760.67 in gross pay, and cashed out over 520 sick leave, personal and vacation hours at a rate of $75.51 per hour.

On Mar. 19, 2024, The Ann Arbor Independent first reported that “Between 2022-2023, Alize Asberry Payne charged $115,000 to the credit card given to her by Washtenaw County. Along with trips, workshops, conferences, and a $3,700 payment to the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, she also spent $3,746 to purchase tables at the annual Black and Gold Gala ball. Taxpayers footed the bill for County Administrator Greg Dill, his assistant Crystal Campbell and County Commissioners Justin Hodge, Caroline Sanders and Crystal Lyte to attend the 6-11 p.m. event that included cocktails, live music and dancing.”

MLive.com followed up in May 2024 on the A2Indy’s reporting and revealed through an examination of credit cards statements that Asberry Payne had used her county credit card to travel to Europe and to book a stay in a wellness spa in Cancun, Mexico.

The Ann Arbor Independent published a follow-up article on April 30, 2024 that revealed Asberry Payne had falsified portions of her County job application and resume. In that article, The Ann Arbor Independent reported: “One of the most surprising facts uncovered, again, with a single Google search, was this: While applying and interviewing for a high-level administrative position in the County, public records show she was the subject of an arrest warrant for repeatedly refusing to appear in San Francisco Superior Court related to a judgement against her. Asberry had admitted responsibility for $9,532 owned to Eric Hendler and Amy Cummins, and had entered into a court-supervised repayment plan. She then stopped paying and left California for Michigan. The warrant was canceled June 12, 2019.”

In that article the newspaper also reported: “The job posting for RACIAL EQUITY OFFICER I/II that drew over 170 applicants required a ‘Bachelor’s degree public administration, public policy, political science, education, sociology, social work, communications or related field. Master’s degree preferred.’ Calls to all of the Registrars at the institutions listed on the resume Alize Asberry Payne submitted along with a cover letter and job application, revealed that Alize Asberry Payne did meet the required minimum educational qualifications. Though she listed San Francisco State University first in the list, as if she’d graduated, the college’s Registrar confirmed she attended, beginning in 2013, when she incorporated NDSF, LLC, but did not graduate. She did not study ‘Political Science Studies with emphasis on constitutional law, prelaw track.’ She took courses in Criminal Justice.”

County credit card records from 2024 showed that all of her credit card charges between January and May 2024 were reversed. Four of the five reversed charges were for travel, airplane tickets.

Between 2019, when she was hired and 2024, County Administrator Greg Dill raised Alize Asberry Payne’s annual pay by 40 percent, from $105,000 to $147,000. Her personnel file, which the newspaper obtained, contained no evaluations or reviews of any kind. When asked by email about Asberry Payne’s raises in pay, County Administrator Greg Dill did not respond.

On July 27, 2024, a lawyer named Robert Burton-Harris (the husband of Victoria Burton-Harris, the County’s Chief Asst. Prosecutor), contacted the A2Indy and threatened to file a defamation suit on behalf of his client, Alize Asberry Payne. In his letter, absent any request for corrections, Burton-Harris (who specializes in criminal and expungement law) demanded that the newspaper’s March and April 2024 investigative articles be retracted. Asberry Payne and Burton-Harris threatened the newspaper with a SLAPP suit. Michigan’s Legislature is presently preparing anti-SLAPP legislation to protect individuals and the media from such meritless legal threats.

In a letter to her lawyer, the newspaper gave Asberry Payne two weeks to provide evidence of necessary corrections, but she did not do so.

Asberry Payne had never requested any corrections or pointed out any omissions in the reporting about her credit card spending or public records which revealed she had falsified her credentials when applying to lead the County’s DEI Dept. She had also failed to respond to multiple requests for comment.

County Administrator Greg Dill has not answered questions about why there was no investigation of Asberry Payne and why she was given four months to collect her full salary and benefits and time to cash out over 500 accrued hours.