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Fire Chief 'Should Be Ousted' for Discrimination Against Blacks
By The Associated Press
December 01, 2006
Fire Chief William Bamattre should
be ousted for failing to curb hazing and discrimination in his department, two
city officials and the head of the firefighters union said.
"What we have is a Fire
Department that fosters bullying from the top down—and that is a
management-caused problem," outgoing United Firefighters of Los Angeles
President Pat McOsker said Monday.
"The bottom line is: We have a
Fire Department that has allowed this for 10 years, and we've had the same
leadership for 10 years," he said.
In the past several
weeks, the City Council has approved spending nearly $1 million to settle
firefighter lawsuits alleging age, race or sex discrimination. A dozen more
suits and claims are pending.
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On Tuesday, the council
was scheduled to decide whether to override Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's veto of
a $2.7-million discrimination lawsuit settlement to a black firefighter.
Tennie Pierce said other
firefighters fed him dog food at a Westchester fire station two years ago. A
departmental investigation suggested the prank was prompted by Pierce's
reference to himself as the "Big Dog."
Villaraigosa vetoed the
settlement last week after photographs surfaced that showed Pierce engaging in
pranks with other firefighters.
On Monday, Bamattre
appeared at a City Council hearing on problems within the 3,900-member
department.
Bamattre, who was brought
in as chief in 1995 with an agenda to eliminate discrimination, told the council
that progress was being made and he should be the one to continue it before his
planned retirement in February 2008.
"I've heard a lot of
people calling for my head," Bamattre said. "There is no other person who can
come in and implement these changes better than I."
Jack Weiss, who chairs
the council's Public Safety Committee, said he was dissatisfied with the chief's
explanations.
The chief "stated
perfunctorily that 'I take responsibility' and then told us the principal reason
for these enduring problems is his inability to fire firefighters" because of
City Charter restrictions, Weiss said. "That's a cop-out."
City Controller Laura
Chick cited an audit she released in January. It concluded that discrimination,
hazing and harassment persisted in the Fire Department despite a zero-tolerance
policy.
"I have lost faith and
hope that this current leadership of the department can make the changes
necessary," Chick said after the hearing. "The current management should be
out."
Only the mayor could fire
Bamattre. His office issued a statement Monday that did not specifically address
the issue but said problems "are compelling and demand immediate attention."
"The mayor believes that
we need to fundamentally change the culture at the Fire Department,"
spokesperson Matt Szabo said. (AP)
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