Leflore County District 2 Supervisor Robert Moore is being accused of using his political clout to push a Greenwood attorney out of a job because of the color of his skin.
Moore, who is black, has been named as a defendant in George Dulin’s reverse discrimination lawsuit against the Greenwood Leflore Hospital Board of Commissioners.
Dulin sued the board late last year after the board voted to replace him as its attorney in June 2006. After the board’s vote, Dulin resigned from the job. The 82-year-old attorney, who is white, had held the post 22 years. His complaint, filed in federal court, alleges that he was removed from his position because he is white.
The complaint against Moore was filed in federal court at the end of July. In it, Dulin alleges that Moore – president of the board of supervisors at the time – conducted “private meetings” with the hospital board’s black members, urging them to oust Dulin because of his age and skin color. It further states that Moore, in an attempt to tarnish Dulin’s reputation with hospital board members, made “defamatory charges that (Dulin) slept at board meetings.”
“Moore desired to influence board members to vote to replace (Dulin) with a black person, and Moore succeeded in this attempt,” the lawsuit states.
Moore could not be reached for comment.
Roughly one month prior to being named a defendant, however, Moore spoke briefly with the Commonwealth about the affair. When asked why he had been subpoenaed and asked to give a deposition, he responded, “I have no idea why they asked me give a deposition. I don’t have a dog in the hunt.”
In court documents, he denies Dulin’s charges.
Dulin is seeking unspecified monetary damages from both the hospital board and Moore.
The lawsuit against the board alleges that two white members of the five-person hospital board – Alex Malouf and Brian Waldrop – knew Dulin’s removal as board attorney was racially motivated but “decided to go along with the decision” because they wanted “to please other board members.”
The other three members of the board – Chairman Sammy Foster, Gladys Flaggs and Walter Parker – are black.
“The primary motivation of the black members in voting to replace (Dulin) was to give the position to a black person,” Dulin claims in court documents.
After the board voted unanimously to oust Dulin, local attorney W.M. Sanders was chosen to fill the slot. Sanders is black. In his lawsuit against Moore, Dulin states that Sanders had “little or no relevant experience.”
In court documents, the hospital board denies the statement about Sanders’ experience.
In recent months, with the lawsuit gaining momentum, several city and county political leaders have given depositions. In addition to Moore, former County Attorney Willie Perkins Sr. and Greenwood City Council President David Jordan have both been deposed.
Moore, Perkins and Jordan all attended a controversial Greenwood Voters League meeting in August 2005. At the meeting, Moore reportedly asked Foster when the board would replace Dulin with a black attorney.
The Greenwood Commonwealth published an article about the meeting. The article quotes Jordan as saying, “We’ve got to make it reflect the demographics of people by race. It has no business staying the same.”
In depositions, Moore and Jordan both deny making the statements.
Greenwood Commonwealth reporter Bob Darden and the hospital’s Executive Director Jerry Adams have also been deposed, as has Sanders.
In court documents, the hospital board and Moore claim the Commonwealth article is false. Moore’s counterclaim also states Dulin, while serving as the board’s attorney, was “negligent, breached his fiduciary duty and breached his contract with the board in his failure to carry out his duties.”
Dulin’s lawsuit says he has suffered lost income and anxiety because of the loss of the position.
After a one-year stint as supervisor in 1986, Moore has served continuously since 1992. From 2000 until 2008, he was president of board.
District 4 Supervisor Wayne Self now serves as the board’s president.
