Corruption in your back yard ... who’da thunkit? This is particularly unpleasant, though, because one wants to respect firefighters (and police) on principle. It’s truly disappointing when they’re lazy union drones.
The local news has been all over this, at least on the most conservative of the alphabet stations. I’m not surprised; since my ex-roommate retired from the county fire station admin (payroll section) there hasn’t been anyone with the intestinal fortitude to catch the problem and blow the whistle.
Of course, now, with the housing like it is, the local governments don’t have enough tax revenue to keep paying like they used to. Lots of lay-offs coming. The new governor even wants to stop rent rebates for seniors. I emailed his office, but it looks as though I need to do it again.
She was good at what she did.
please don’t lump police in with fire. Police overtime is largely event-driven. Yes there are some bad apples, usually administrators who use the events to pad their overtime when the line guys are doing all the work, the administrators show up to “supervise” when in fact the line officers and supervisors handle the real work. Those types are not part of the labor group that covers rank and file but the media make no distinction between a police officer and a police lieutenant, or for that matter between a firefighter and a battalion chief. As to firefighters, they have been able to swap shifts for overtime and schedule sicktime forever. It is a thoroughly corrupt system. (full disclosure, I’m a cop with 21 years on and a member of my association’s board of directors) We told fire union leaders that they could cure their public relations problems by simply going to four, ten hour shifts. I don’t see a reason why firefighters have to be paid to sleep or why they can’t do shift work. I have two small kids at home and they bring home all kinds of sickness from school, not to mention the less than reputable types that I have to arrest and put in my patrol car. I guarantee I didn’t call in sick ten days all of last year, whether for myself or my kids. The sick leave abuse is finally coming home to roost. I for one would love to see prosecutions, whether against a corrupt firefighter or a cop....
Remember that 9/11 first responder health care bill that caused so much controversy last year, that Weiner, one of the main sponsors pulled the bill and attacked King verbally for not getting full support for his bill?
Well, what that brouhaha was about was that the health care bill that Weiner had proposed included a clause to unionize ALL FIRST RESPONDERS under a single federalized union, much like the SEIU control state government workers across state lines. The Republicans refused that part of the bill and Weiner lost it.
The idea of the single union is to spread the high costs of inner city first responder pensions and benefits across the whole country, forcing small rural areas to share the costs of expensive inner city police and firemen.
>This is particularly unpleasant, though, because one wants to respect firefighters (and police) on principle. It’s truly disappointing when they’re lazy union drones.<
Yes it is! Your right 100% but the respect needs to be earned and kept. Unfortunately guys like this blow it.