I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I read this in the Southtown Star:

Matteson village administrator Napoleon Haney was let go this week after just four months on the job.

Haney, who had a four-year, $120,000 per-year contract was hired in June.

“I don’t really know (why this happened),” Haney said Thursday. “I was called in, and the mayor informed me that my contract was terminated.”

Haney said there was a provision in his contract that he could be terminated without cause.

Haney, who moved his family from Reno, Nev., and bought a house in Matteson in late July, said he thought he was on the right track.

“I thought I was. I came from a large city. My goal was to bring added value to the community,” he said.

Mayor Andre Ashmore did not return messages left for him.

Read more here.

I knew Napoleon Haney, and I believe him when he says he had no idea this was coming. Napoleon Haney gives new meaning to the word “ethics.” The man is ethical to the core of his being. Did Ashmore have a problem with an Administrator with ethics?

Haney is creative, dynamic, innovative, thoughtful, intelligent…

I am completely flabbergasted with Mayor Andre Ashmore.

Matteson residents should give serious thought to electing someone else for mayor.

Yup. I said that.

Andre Ashmore has some explaining to do. Yes, I understand that he would not want to comment on a personnel matter. But this is a public matter. Matteson is losing real talent. Why would Matteson choose to jettison talent? We know Haney wasn’t fired for cause.

This smells of nasty politics, and nasty politics should never dictate policy.

If Mayor Ashmore appoints his wife as Village Administrator, we’ll know what this was really all about.