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| FITZGERALD |
I know I’m a bit late on Officer Bob
Fitzgerald retiring from the Police Department and as president of the Police
Benevolent Association.
I knew about it, and also got a
copy of the letter he sent calling for Councilman Bob Doherty, D-District 4, resignation
the day he sent it but I chose not to do anything with it right away for two
reasons:
-One, because that is exactly the
type of media manipulation Fitzgerald used throughout his tenure as PBA president.
He released that the day before he retired just to deflect the media from writing
about his destructive record as president.
-And two, because it the letter wasn’t
news. (And no, I'm not including it in this post.) It might have been news months ago, around the time Doherty held the questionable
public hearings about the Kokopellis melee, but to release it when Fitzgerald
was all but out the door, the call for a councilman’s head doesn’t mean
anything at all. If nothing else it was a weak attempt at salvaging an unsalvageable
legacy as president.
First, let me say, I like
Fitzgerald. When he wasn’t talking union shop or pitching a story that you
could tell he was into being a cop. He was an evidence technician before
becoming PBA president and was, as far as I could tell, good at meticulous
handling proof that could make or break a prosecutor’s case. But, the presidency
was a 40-hour-a-week gig, and every time you saw Fitzgerald in uniform over the
past 11-plus years he was on OT.
Fitzgerald did fight hard for his
members during contract negotiations, when they found themselves in trouble and
when the administration or the command staff tried to alter the terms of the
contract as it related to bidding assignments, staffing issues and even the
different divisions within the department.
All that is expected of a strong
union leader, but Fitzgerald often crossed the lines from professional to personal,
from advocate to activist, from union president to political operative.
Overtime, pension costs, bidding
jobs based on seniority rather than merit and other contractual obligations are
favorite targets of columnists and politicians with enough guts to go against
the politically powerful PBA union. But, they are obligations and the people elected to run the city signed off on
them at some time so it’s not the PBA’s fault for getting what they could and
then not wanting to give any of it up.
That said, Fitzgerald, just took
it too far. I’m really not sure where to start.
I think the first time I was truly
offended by Fitzgerald’s actions was the day then Mayor Harry Tutunjian was set
to introduce John Tedesco as the new police chief. Fitzgerald didn’t want
Tedesco to get the job because he knew as chief he would shake up the
department, eliminate some inefficient programs to cut back on overtime and was
a staunch disciplinarian. So, Fitzgerald
concocted this bizarre story about Tedesco getting the job because he agreed to
squash an investigation into drug use and/or sale by members of Tutunjian’s
adminstration. I’m not saying it was a complete fabrication because, as far as
I could find out, it was a laborer in DPW who got jammed up so technically it
was in Tutunjian’s adminstration. It’s just that the guy worked out of a pickup
truck and probably never stepped foot in City Hall.
Then he propped up two on the
Council – Kevin McGrath and Nina Nichols – with promises of who knows what if
they supported a police commissioner. They convinced Mayor Lou Rosamilia to
appoint Anthony Magnetto to oversee Tedesco and that experiment threw the
department into turmoil. Magnetto went back into retirement after a year and
Tedesco is now back in charge of the department.
And then he sued the city. It’s a
pretty sordid story, really. A fellow officer, Steve Seney, was making a stink
about residency and promotions – specifically, officers not living in the city
were getting promoted ahead of those who did. Fitzgerald wasn’t happy about
that and allegedly threatened to tell his wife about an affair Seney was
having. There was threats of violence and Tutunjian suspended Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald
sued and the city settled for $84,000.
Battles between the PBA and the
administration – of whatever party – are legendary. But Fitzgerald took it to a
new level. Rather than work within the existing hierarchy, he thought the PBA
should run the department and used every tactic of manipulation in futile
attempts to achieve that goal.
Sgt. Tom Hoffman is the new PBA
president. I don’t know the guy, but he can’t be any more divisive as
Fitzgerald.
