Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel suffered an embarrassing setback on Thursday when the man he had very publicly touted as the county’s new chief legal counsel was rejected by the Board of Commissioners.
When Hackel arranged a retirement party last Friday for George Brumbaugh, the outgoing corporation counsel, the flyers posted in county buildings featured photos of Brumbaugh and Gabe Orzame, Hackel’s choice for the new top attorney. Orzame was identified as the “appointee” for the vacancy.
One problem: the commissioners didn’t think much of Hackel’s nominee or the fact that they were not part of the selection process. While the confirmation process in Macomb County’s new charter/executive form of government is usually routine, Orzame was peppered with dozens of questions from the board and eventually rebuffed by a 7-4 vote. The vote would have been 9-4 if two commissioners had not been absent.
In fact, Orzame was told on Friday that he didn’t have the votes, and on Sunday board chair Dave Flynn offered him the opportunity to “save face” and remove his name from contention. He declined.
If Hackel hoped that commissioners would attend last Friday’s soiree and get comfortable with Orzame, he was mistaken. The only commissioner in attendance was Flynn.
The Hackel team also tried hard (and failed) to get media coverage of this 2-hour “meet and greet.” But attendance was good – more than 100 people, about 70 were there when Hackel gave his little speech and send-off to Brumbaugh.
Bottom line: The executive knew his nominee was in trouble but he proceeded to promote the retirement party as an opportunity for department heads and those in the legal community to meet the new corporation counsel.
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