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Veto upheld in $2.7 million dog food prank settlement By KERRY CAVANAUGH Los Angeles Daily News LOS ANGELES — Just three weeks after its near-unanimous approval of a $2.7 million settlement, the Los Angeles City Council reversed itself Wednesday and upheld a mayoral veto of the payoff to a black firefighter whose colleagues slipped dog food into his spaghetti as a prank. The council voted 9-6 to back Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's veto of the settlement with firefighter Tennie Pierce. Although the council action does not preclude City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo from conducting further settlement talks, for now the case is...

LOS ANGELES - The emotional debate over whether Los Angeles should pay nearly $3 million to a black firefighter who had his meal laced with dog food by white colleagues has put the spotlight on a larger issue that often goes unmentioned, the hazing rituals that are part of a macho culture that is the firefighter's world. Almost immediately after the City Council voted 11-1 earlier this month to award Tennie Pierce $2.7 million to settle his racial discrimination lawsuit photos surfaced on the Internet of him engaging in other firehouse pranks. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took notice and vetoed the...

Responding to community outrage over the $2.7 million awarded to a black firefighter who said he suffered racial discrimination when his colleagues hid dog food in his spaghetti, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vetoed the settlement Monday after seeing photos of the firefighter participating in pranks himself. The mayor's veto - his first in office - sends the settlement with Tennie Pierce back to the City Council, which had approved the payout Nov. 8 and couldn't muster enough votes last week to reconsider the settlement after the prank photos came to light. "Given the magnitude of the recommended settlement, the taxpayers have...

Mayor vetoes dog-food settlement BY KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer LA Daily News Article Last Updated:11/20/2006 05:28:52 PM PST Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today vetoed the controversial $2.7 million settlement with a Los Angeles firefighter tricked into eating dog food, after reviewing photos that showed the firefighter had engaged in hazing and pranks himself. The mayor's veto - his first in office - sends the settlement back to the City Council, which had approved the payout Nov. 8. "The behavior underlying this case must be eliminated in our city workforce," Villaraigosa said this afternoon. "At the same time, settlements of this magnitude...

"A black firefighter who was served dog food in his spaghetti by fellow firefighters will be paid more than $2.7 million to settle a lawsuit alleging racial harassment within the Los Angeles Fire Department. The award, approved on an 11-1 vote Wednesday by the Los Angeles City Council, is the latest in a recent string of settlements of lawsuits by firefighters claiming discrimination and harassment and retaliation against those who complain..." It is believed to be the largest payout for misconduct in the department's history, which was long considered among the nation's finest, but has often been the target of...