Wow, that subject line doesn’t demonstrate
any bias whatsoever.
I will try to limit my responses in the
future to prevent the email exchanges getting out of hand.
To be clear, the legion fire fighters who
will be canvassing the neighborhoods will not be endorsing me, have not given
me any money and I have sought neither. I have no interest in softening
the blow for anyone asking for votes for someone other than myself.
I have expressed a willingness to take a
look at Bruce’s proposals and acknowledged that some of them may have merit,
but I have also said that the decisions that we make regarding our public
safety require the cooperation of the whole community, including the fire and
police professionals in whose efforts we respect.
To be additionally clear; it is Bruce that
has proposed firing 25% of the fire department staff and replacing them with
volunteers and reservists. He has tried to characterize his comments as
pro firefighter and anti union, yet constantly refers to their agenda, culture
of fiscal abuse and addiction to overtime.
All I have said is that reform needs to be
in the community interest, that we do not yet know what that is and you can’t
adopt change by beating public safety professionals over the head with a stick.
If Bruce’s primary reason for moving to
I will no longer comment on this via Hal’s
email service, I think it has run its course.
Michael Teahan
Note by Hal Weber: I agree with Michael that this back and forth
discussion with Bruce Philpott has for all intents and purposes run its course. For Michael and those others who might like
to delve more into Bruce Philpott’s opinion regarding the operation of the
Glendale Fire Department, as well as some strong counter opinions by a number
of professional firefighters, I have included below links to letters and
articles about this issue that were posted on this web site early in 2008.