DETROIT -- The Wayne County Commission Tuesday unanimously elected Commissioner Edward A. Boike, Jr., D-Taylor, to replace under-fire chairwoman Jewel Ware.

Although Ware was re-elected as a commissioner in 2008, she cleared out her chairperson office over the weekend and opted not to run for chairwoman in 2009.

Boike will serve a two-year term as chairman of the 15-person legislative body responsible for an 11.3 million annual budget and 73 employees.

Ware has been under scrutiny for the past few months as state and federal agents launched investigations into her hiring of alleged county ghost employees to work at her husband's resort in northern Michigan.

The FBI launched an investigation after the county's auditor, Willie Mayo, released a 79-page report that detailed Ware's misuse of the commission's payroll and sloppy accounting.

A letter sent to commissioners by an anonymous author two months ago accused Ware of hiring two ex-convicts, Kwasi Akwamu and Terrence Dortch, to work at the Red Rooster Bar in Idlewild. Both men denied being paid for their work at the resort with taxpayer money, but both have since resigned from their county jobs.

According to the audit, the two men were hired for $39,000 in 2003 and then their pay jumped to nearly $83,000 in May when the historically black resort community in Lake County, opened.

A second anonymous letter was sent in December, threatening to expose the wrongdoings of other commissioners who did not sign Ware's resignation letter.

In November, six of the Wayne County commissioners on the 15-member board signed a letter asking Ware to step aside while the auditor launched an investigation.

The latest letter threatened to expose other commissioners of hiring family and friends, uncover extramarital affairs and suggests another commissioner is a closet homosexual.

"Remember we have dirt on all the commissioners," the letter read.

Boike is the longest-serving member of the commission. He was first elected to his seat in 1988, and has been re-elected 10 times by the voters of district 15.

"It is truly an honor to be selected chairman," Boike said in his acceptance speech. "I will work to uphold the Wayne County Charter, set policy and provide financial accountability for the taxpayers of Wayne County."