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When Uniformed Firefighters' Association President Steve Cassidy last week attacked Fire Commissioner Nick Scoppetta as unqualified to run the FDNY, it was such an abrupt shift into combat mode that the department's response that Mr. Cassidy had just launched his reelection campaign seemed reasonable.
"The UFA elections are coming, and it's a time-honored tradition to attack the department and the Commissioner," said Mr. Scoppetta's chief spokesman, Frank Gribbon, during a Nov. 19 interview.
He was speaking three days after Newsday had published Mr. Cassidy's statement that Mr. Scoppetta "isn't qualified to head the department,"
Long List of Complaints
In that article and a subsequent interview with this newspaper, Mr. Cassidy questioned the Fire Commissioner's leadership qualities. He cited issues ranging from what he said was overly harsh treatment of firefighters involved in accidents to the failure to secure mayoral support for a bill that would have kept large numbers of senior Firefighters from retiring to cash in on pensions fattened by post-9/11 overtime.
Mr. Cassidy acknowledged that some of the frustration that he and his members are feeling has to do with a miserly contract offer from the city---one issue that he did not hang on Mr. Scoppetta. He denied, however, that concern about his own political future, with the UFA election less than seven months away, had prompted him to turn the verbal hose on the Commissioner.
"It's not about anything that's upcoming," Mr. Cassidy insisted.
One UFA board member who was skeptical about that claim was Manhattan Trustee Rudy Sanfilippo, a frequent Cassidy critic. "I do conclude that he's campaigning," he said regarding Mr. Cassidy's blast at Mr. Scoppetta. "I think that his endorsement of Bush was campaigning. I know that we're gonna pay for years for all the bridges that have been burned with organized labor over that."
Mr. Sanfilippo was referring to the fact that Mr. Cassidy delivered the UFA endorsement of President Bush's reelection on the same day that the city labor movement was holding a large anti-Bush rally outside the Republican convention. Whatever ill will the timing and the backing of the President brought Mr. Cassidy from other union leaders, Mr. Sanfilippo, said, was more than offset for him politically by the popularity of the move among the UFA rank and file.
"I discount everything that Rudy Sanfilippo says," Mr. Cassidy responded. "He doesn't have a relationship with any of the major labor leaders in the city, and he's completely wrong."
However popular the endorsement may have been among his rank and file, he added, he made it "strictly on the merits" from the belief that Mr. Bush would be more effective than John Kerry in fighting the war on terrorism.
"I don't think the rest of the labor movement has as big a concern on that as New York City Firefighters," Mr. Cassidy said. "We suffered the biggest losses; we have the biggest stake. Labor leaders are supposed to do what's in the best interest of their members."
Challenger Expands His Base
To this point, only one potential challenger to Mr. Cassidy's bid for reelection has surfaced: Tom DaParma, the former UFA Queens trustee who resigned that post early in Mr. Cassidy's tenure as president. Since then, Mr. DaParma has worked as a training instructor at the Fire Academy, giving him close access to another potentially rich bloc of votes.
"It's a great combination to start with," one veteran UFA official said of a political base consisting of Queens Firefighters and the FDNY's newest members.
Mr. Cassidy said, however, that the backdrop for his criticism of Mr. Scoppetta lay in the past, describing it as an accumulation of grievances that finally generated one ringing denunciation. He implicitly acknowledged that while his more strained relationship with Mayor Bloomberg over the contract dispute has limited his direct access to him, he also no longer had to worry about displeasing City Hall with such a full frontal assault.
"Quite frankly, now that we're at odds with the Mayor-in the past I've been able to solve problems with the Fire Commissioner by going around him," Mr. Cassidy said.
It's also clear, however, that even when he and Mr. Bloomberg were on friendly terms there were issues separating them that left Mr. Scoppetta caught in the middle, Those included the closing of firehouses and the rash of disciplinary problems earlier this year that have prompted an FDNY crackdown that involves matters as large as random drug-testing and as niggling as barring Firefighters on house-watch from watching TV to help pass the time.
Even Mr. Cassidy concedes as much in detailing his first beef with Mr. Scoppetta: his failure to vigorously support legislation that would have allowed senior Firefighters to lock in for pension purposes large amounts of overtime they worked in the aftermath of 9/11 without having to retire. The bill ultimately foundered as a result.
'Mayor Didn't Want It'
"Nick Scoppetta did nothing because the Mayor didn't want to do it," Mr. Cassidy said. "They wanted a younger, cheaper Fire Department. Nick Scoppetta didn't realize that one of the most important things for a Fire Department is experience."
Mr. Casssidy argued that Mr. Scoppetta had been too accommodating to City Hall's demands to close firehouses last year, something that was as much an operational decision as it was a budgetary one. This is a view shared by Uniformed Fire Officers' Association President Pete Gorman, who has been more vocal on that issue.
Both men are aware, however, that when the newly elected Mayor's transition team interviewed candidates for Fire Commissioner three years ago, the issue of closing firehouses was discussed. If Mr. Scoppetta had not indicated a willingness to make such cuts, he would not have gotten the job.
Lacks Kelly's Clout
Morale that Mr. Cassidy claims has hit an all-time low may be attributable, Mr. Gorman said, to the perception that the department does not have as much influence at City Hall as the NYPD. "All due respect to Ray Kelly, but he certainly has a lot of juice. We'd like to see [Mr. Scoppetta] be a little bit more forceful with City Hall," he remarked.
One Scoppetta confidante said this view ignores the political reality that the Police Commissioner will almost always carry more weight at City Hall because the performance of the NYPD more heavily affects the Mayor's standing with the electorate.
"Crime levels and safety does translate into votes," this FDNY official said. "So surprise, surprise, Ray Kelly has a lot of influence. That doesn't mean Scoppetta doesn't have the full support of the Mayor."
The way in which the random drug-testing policy has been applied is a more recent source of bitterness, particularly for Mr. Cassidy, who maintained that Mr. Scoppetta has applied a doublestandard within the ranks. He cited the case of a Firefighter with an unblemished record over 19 years who was fired after the collision of a rig he was driving with another FDNY truck in February led to a drug test in which he came up positive for cocaine.
That decision, Mr. Cassidy said, was one example of Mr.Scoppetta acting as "a prosecutor and not a leader," referring to his tenure 30 years ago as a city Investigation Commissioner who made major police corruption cases.
Let Captain Retire
He contrasted that firing with another recent case in which a Fire Captain was allowed to retire with full pension after testing positive for cocaine, despite already being under a "stipulation" that subjected him to random drug testing because of a previous substance abuse problem.
The senior FDNY official responded that there were major differences between the two cases. "The Captain wasn't working at the time - he had suffered a career-ending knee injury at the time he was tested," he pointed out.
In contrast, he said, the Firefighter with the unblemished record was also "a guy driving a fire truck high on cocaine. The department has an obligation to make sure that never happens again."
That case, this official added, shot down Mr. Cassidy's more general argument about the FDNY's handling of positive drug findings: that because, unlike cops, Firefighters don't carry guns, they should be allowed to enter treatment the first time they test positive, just as Sanitation Workers do. As the chauffeur for his Manhattan company, this firefighter was armed with something potentially more lethal than a loaded gun, and though no one was killed in the collision between the two rigs, 10 other firefighters and two civilians were injured
Only 1% Using
Mr. Gribbon pointed out that among the first 475 firefighters subjected to random drug testing, only five of them were found to have drugs in their system: cocaine in four cases and marijuana in the fifth. That small number of positives, he said, suggested that the great majority of firefighters who worked clean would not want their lives endangered by colleagues who were working under the influence of drugs.
Mr. Cassidy said the department has adopted a more stringent threshold for positives than is used by Federal law-enforcement agencies, creating the possibility that Firefighters could be found in violation of the drug policy because of small traces of opiates in their system that could be caused by poppy seeds. Mr. Gribbon said that the FDNY is applying the same threshold used by the NYPD, and in cases where there has been a finding in between the two standards has used a second hair-follicle test that averted charges being brought against eight firefighters.
What Mr. Cassidy called "the last straw" that prompted him to let loose on Mr. Scoppetta was an incident in July in which a Firefighter driving a rig in The Bronx went through a red light and hit an SUV, killing a passenger. Although the Firefighter was not under the influence, Mr. Scoppetta decided two months ago to bring departmental charges against him, apparently strongly influenced by a videotape of the incident recorded by a nearby store's security camera that indicated that the Firefighter did not slow the truck even though the light went red well before it reached the intersection.
"He literally persecuted a Firefighter who was involved in an incident while responding to a major fire," Mr. Cassidy asserted. "The Commissioner is humiliating and punishing this Firefighter simply because he didn't like answering questions about it."
FDNY: UFA Stoked It
Fire Department officials contend that it is the union that has kept the issue in the spotlight by talking extensively to reporters-including one from WABC-TV who obtained a copy of the videotape of the fatal accident about the case.
"Nobody humiliated the guy," Mr. Gribbon said, declined to identify the Firefighter facing charges. "And its outrageous to say he's been persecuted-there's been no disposition on the punishment yet."
Fire Department regulations require chauffeurs to come to a full stop whenever a company rig comes to a red light or a stop sign. In practice, however, this directive is routinely ignored, and Mr. Scoppetta shares the belief of his top chiefs that it should be. He has proposed amending the regulation to make it consistent with what is already provided under the state Vehicle and Traffic Law, which allows emergency vehicles to go through red lights and stop signs but requires them to exercise caution when doing so. Once the unions are formally notified of the change, it will take effect two weeks later.
'Save Time Elsewhere'
"We disagree with him on that," Mr. Gorman said, pointing out that National Fire Protection Association guidelines state that fire trucks should stop at both stop signs and red lights. Arguing that removing the formal restriction could lead to more accidents and more lives lost, he said, "I'd rather shave seconds [off response time] by doing better on dispatch time or turnout.
The fact that Mr. Cassidy's reaction to the change is sharper should not be surprising, since it is his men and women who work as chauffeurs and therefore face the most direct liability for any accidents.
Referring to Mr. Scoppetta, he said, "He's basically saying, `You don't have to stop, but if you get into an accident, you're responsible."
Mr. Gribbon suggested Mr. Cassidy had swung into hyperbolic overdrive on the issue, noting that this is the first time Mr. Scoppetta has brought departmental charges involving an accident out of 1,500 that have occurred since he became Fire Commissioner.
He characterized Mr. Cassidy's position in a private meeting Nov. 11 between Mr. Scoppetta and the two union leaders as "Keep the [old stop] rule, but don't enforce it."
'Use Common Sense'
Mr. Scoppetta believes, Mr. Gribbon said, that chauffeurs are fully capable of exercising the necessary discretion to not slow their progress to fire scenes by stopping at every red light while nonetheless exercising caution by easing off the accelerator when entering intersections.
"It is clear that there are situations that you can see traffic has stopped and so you can go through," he said. "We're not saying blast through red lights. This is all about common sense and judgment. A full stop is unreasonable."
The meeting between the Commissioner and the union leaders occurred a couple of hours after a UFA membership meeting at which, by several accounts, Mr. Cassidy took heat from his rank and file over the lack of a new wage contract.
The UFA leader said members' wrath may have been vented in his direction, but their real target was Mr. Bloomberg. "It's an outrage that the Mayor is only offering Firefighters 4.17 percent over three years," he said of a city contract package consistent with the deal it reached in April with District Council 37
Don't Vote Out Mayors
But as more than one UFA president over the years has discovered, member frustration over contracts has a nasty habit of manifesting itself in officer elections rather than mayoral ones.
Mr. Cassidy had hoped to use first the Republican convention and later the national election itself as pressure points to force Mr. Bloomberg to sweeten the pot, either because of embarrassment at union demonstrations outside his public appearances or after intervention by higher authorities loyal to President Bush.
He may still hold out such hopes. He noted last week that he got a call from the White House on election night thanking him for his help a couple of hours before it became clear to the rest of the nation that Mr. Bush was going to win Ohio, where Mr. Cassidy had led a delegation of UFA activists in campaigning for the President. He expects to be invited to the White House for a visit with Mr. Bush before the end of the year.
But his best bet for assistance from outside the city may be Governor Pataki, who played a prime role in brokering the endorsement.
Even there, however, it is expected that if the Governor does anything, it will be in somehow influencing an arbitration panel now considering a contract for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association that is almost certain to become a template for the UFA's eventual deal.
Stadium Roadblock
Mr. Cassidy clearly had given up trying to sweet-talk Mr. Bloomberg well before he lit into Mr. Scoppetta. The UFA's decision to join the PBA in opposing a new football stadium on the West Side of Manhattan was just the sort of position certain to infuriate the Mayor, who has staked an increasing amount of his political prestige on getting that deal done. (The UFA position on that matter also is unlikely to have endeared Mr. Cassidy to leaders of the building trades unions, whose members would benefit from the thousands of jobs created to build the new home for the New York Jets.)
All of which has added to the other inevitable conflicts between the UFA and FDNY management as it tries to instill a stronger sense of discipline after all the public, self-inflicted embarrassments of the past year, beginning with the Staten Island firehouse brawl and subsequent coverup on New Year's Eve and reaching a nadir with the revelation that several members of a Bronx company had sex with a woman in quarters.
New tensions between the department and its largest union may be erupting next week. Medical leave for UFA members has been creeping upward, and as of last week had hit 7.5 percent. It was when it dropped below that level earlier in the year that the city restored five-Firefighter staffing for several dozen engine companies, something both unions say is vital in getting hose lines stretched quickly and minimizing structural damage at serious fires
Unless sick leave levels off or drops slightly during the remainder of November, the cuts in engine staffing could be reinstituted by Dec. 1. "If the number [for the month] is 7.5 or above," Mr. Gribbon noted, "then we look at the manning." That offers one more potential source of rage and conflict to welcome in the holiday season.
'A Tough Year
"It's been a difficult year," Mr. Gribbon said, "in terms of discipline, and the department has tried to act responsibly in terms of increasing accountability." But like numerous civilian Commissioners before him, he said, Mr. Scoppetta has often relied on the advice of his top uniformed commanders in his attempts to get things under control.
That reliance on established custom, even in a time of greater turmoil within the department, convinced Mr. Gribbon that Mr. Cassidy's outbursts last week were also a rehash of old scripts under similar circumstances
"I think Steve's words are pretty empty when it comes to the criticism of the Commissioner," he said. "This is all about his getting reelected."
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