Wednesday night, before a council committee meeting, there is a protest planned against council's slowness to adopt an ordinance against
Pay To Play. The protesters shouldn't be too rough on the council, they did take some action, they postponed the committee meeting. It was the Parks and Recreation committee. As a parks activist, I say no loss, they never made a good decision anyway. But, this post is about something else, a police chief who can't wait to get out of Dodge.
I thought that Chief Fritzgerald outlived his usefulness when he implied that his son's arrest may have been racial profiling. Ironically, the same high octane Philadelphia lawyer who defended junior Fritzgerald, has now been retained by our mayor. When news broke that senior Fritzgerald was a finalist for a chief job in Kansas, council president Ray O'Connell said that it would be our loss. Ray must be searching for a father figure, because that's a loss we should encourage. We can be sure that the Wichita job isn't the only application that Fritzgerald has submitted. He already has one foot and his brain out the door. The police department's first reaction to the Slam At Shula's was that the singer was being hostile. Understand, that for a quality response like that, we had hired national consultants and spent a year looking before we hired senior. Please spare us such shams in the future, I'd rather that when papa leaves, they just hire junior for chief.
ADDENDUM: The cancelled Parks and Recreation meeting was scheduled for this evening, not Wednesday. Wednesday's Finance Committee meeting has not been cancelled.
< GUFFAW >
ReplyDeleteJob-hopping actually isn't a quality anyone should look for in a police chief. The two-for-one deal Allentown struck with this guy actually makes sense, given the inept management of the city on the whole.
I have to wonder if it was the incident with his son that was the motivation for Chief Fitzerald leaving, or perhaps Allentown was just not to his liking. I kind of suspect the former was, but it could have been a money motivation also.
ReplyDeleteI know there are pros and cons for bringing in an outsider or promoting from within. An outsider is new and doesn't have any kind of legacy or track record in the department. An insider does and as they move up the ranks there are his friends and there are those who he doesn't get along with.
Given all that, I would like to see the APD promote from within. We've had the out-of-townees now for a while and none of them have really left a good legacy.
jamie@9:52, i believe he's leaving because he knows that pawlowski probably will not finish his term, and that the police chief will be the new mayor's choice. as for legacy, almost half the police force had retired in the last 6 years because of the afflerbach era contract. so, although there isn't much experience there, i still favor at least a local choice.
ReplyDeleteHe was looking for his next step up the ladder since his first day on the job.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fact.
The guy's a political climber.
ReplyDeleteWhat ambitious political opportunist wants their name associated with The City Without Limits?
Assuming the Wichita salary is significantly higher. Most employment is all about 'moving up.' No problem there.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the man and will NOT judge his performance One other tendency is possible, but I have NO reason to believe it is in play here. As is common in the corporate world, it's important to keep MOVING. It's an effective way to never really be held accountable, because every decision remains 'new' and deserves our patience.
If one stays just one step ahead of the wolf, one will NOT be eaten.
Fred Windish
Right..,.it's never really about commitment to the task at hand.
ReplyDeleteprivate response to question about library; yes
ReplyDelete