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My chief lost the election [Archive] - RonFez.net Messageboard

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Doogie
04-08-2008, 10:47 PM
***Warning, Long Diatrabe****

Ok, tonight we had the election tonight in my local volunteer fire house for officers and for the most part they are normally people running for President or Recording Secretary things of that magnitude. But tonight we had a guy run for chief of our department which is the head mukity muck of the fire house. The stinger?! The man who ran against him was a line officer back during the Carter Administration...Ok where does this all tie in. I shall explain, hence the need for my banner

My fire company has a set of by-laws that are for the most part a chunk of monkey spank necessary for finding new sources of fuel. But within them we have a clause that people can run for chief so long as they were once previously fire capt of the fire department. Now for a little history lesson; there are 26 departments in my county (Rockland County), 24 of them established well before 1930. The last two were established in 1958 and 1960 respectively. I say all this cause when the man who ran for chief was last a captain was during the Carter Administration (1977-!981). He resigned from the department in 1983. Rejoined in 1999.

Now to the other guy, he came in 1988, and has been nothing but a fireball as far as volunteering his time. Sure the department and the county underwent a change in the meantime, but he remained consistent as a guy who dedicated his time to the department, in spite of all the changes that have occured. ALWAYS doing things for the betterment of the department. Eventually working his way to the position of asst. engineer ( and through a few bad hair do's as well.)

How to explain that last statement about becoming an engineer...well my dept has company officer positions which run day-to-day non-firefighting operations of my department. Starting with positions of trustee all the way up to president. They are usually non powerful depending upon the relations between the chief and presidents friendship. And we have line officer positions which go from Asst. Engineer to Chief and the line officer positions go in order from bottom to top of 12 to 1. 1 being the highest of course.

Well getting back to the point of the story, the first guy I mentioned came back a few years back to take advantage of our pension system (Yes, even volunteers have a pension system) but was found to be a skilled guy. But he tended to be a bit of a rabble rouser, knowing the right buttons to play, etc. He was denied an appointed position so he became hell bent on getting a position. Hell he even ran against my brother for Assistant Chief cause he was protected by this blind by-law of allowing anyone to run for chief if they were once Captain. He lost that bid.

Now back to the second guy, my friend Brian. He worked his was up as an officer while the 1st guy was gone all those years. Working on committees that benefitted the company from top to bottom, both for the company and gaining new members. As of this year he was poised to be chief. Rarely did anyone oppose the position of chief, and that challenge came from within the line officers ranks. This year was different...

To understand a little further to what I mean is to understand the nature of volunteerism up by me. In the 1960's when my department started, it was the thing to do. Hell it was very elite to become a member of. You were constantly in the paper and your exploits charted. The 1970's, still somewhat the same, but standards were lowered so you got ALL aspects of people joining. Some actually there to help...some there for glory alone inspite of others work. Come the early 1980's, the place became a den of decadence that punished new introspection. Yet through it all, progress emerged and into the early 1990's we were a volunteer fire department that even NYFD crew would have of been proud to call in. Yet in the very late 1990's we went into a regression where we re-accepted members who left in the 70's and early 80's who were "Dead wood." But we though they were "rehabbed." God if we only knew.

These people were still the same type of non-firefighting jerkoffs that they were in the 1970's when they were in their prime. Taking what they can, giving nothing to the department. Yet we accepted them back. And as of tonight, they allowed one of their guys to legally run for chief in spite of the fact that since he was back he ran over a hose in a structure fire when guys were in a building cutting off their pressure wasn't suspended. He wasnt suspended for that. Yet he was allowed to run for chief this year. Against the second guy Brian, and to make matters worse...won. The elections are internal. No tax payer votes on it...and the best part is, the guy who won just had a triple bypass two weeks ago. There was a lot of internal betrayal in the department and a lot of bad blood. Lord knows I wanted to grab my rifle, but I was the voice of reason...I even talked THE MOST calm of guys out of kicking the shit of backstabbers.

Hell they allowed a guy to go from the equivelant of private to the rank of 5-star general overnight and all off his piece of shit flunkies to vote for him. God we all needed to go out and vent in and lord knows I lost a chunk of that venting here in the recap. I am extremely distraught over this, yet I was the voice of reason to them all. In post script though all his subbordinate guys that were coming up have resigned...they will not serve that incompetent ego-centric man. And the worst part is there is no one to replace the guys who resigned. The bylaws have such a restraint on who can move up and who cant....

The worst part is that Brian, the guy who lost is a guy who has done nothing but sacrifice himself for this department. Hell he even went out of the way for this department in spite of bein passed over for fireman of the year several times...once including to yours truly. The man is a consumate professional. Yet enough schmucks came back and elected him out cause they didnt like the way he talked to him. Hell lets throw away 20 years of fire tactics and hope for the best...good policy.

We have had the most docile of guys go out on rebellion against his loss...and the part I am not explaining right here is the fact that a lot of guys that elected Brian out, havent fought an interior fire since 1983, if they were lucky that late...young people got fucked over....all over politics. I feel like getting my rifle...

HBox
04-08-2008, 10:56 PM
Jesus. Firehouse politics is more convoluted than the Communist Party.

ChrisTheCop
04-08-2008, 11:09 PM
You call yours "the chief" too?
But dont worry, it happens to all guys every now and then.












And now, I will read the rest of your post.

ChrisTheCop
04-08-2008, 11:24 PM
And now I will post an apology for the above post, as I did not realize the forum I was in.

Sorry that the good guy lost; he sounds like a hard worker who deserved the position over the old guy. But thats democracy, yeah? The most experienced, well rounded, deserving person doesnt always win. It sucks, and even though there was back stabbing involved (again, democracy), the majority won.

How long before someone can challenge him?

Doogie
04-08-2008, 11:29 PM
The best part is, the guy who won just had a triple bypass two weeks ago...now that has nothing to with his leadership, but 5 of his line officers, in cluding my brother who was 1st Assistant Chief (next in line) have walked out/resigned...they will not serve that man.

AKA if we have the RonFez.Net softball game this way again we will have the after party at my Legion which is wayyyyyyyyyyyy cool to parties and has full service bar.

Friday
04-08-2008, 11:30 PM
The best part is, the guy who won just had a triple bypass two weeks ago...now that has nothing to with his leadership, but 5 of his line officers, in cluding my brother who was 1st Assistant Chief (next in line) have walked out/resigned...they will not serve that man.

AKA if we have the RonFez.Net softball game this way again we will have the after party at my Legion which is wayyyyyyyyyyyy cool to parties and has full service bar.

the question is... will enough people show up to actually have a Game this time?

hmmmmm.....

Doogie
04-09-2008, 12:17 AM
the question is... will enough people show up to actually have a Game this time?

hmmmmm.....

Good point...I osctrasized portions of my family for last years game...this year I want a confirmation

Snacks
04-09-2008, 07:26 AM
sounds like this piece of shit as you call him isnt that bad. he has to be liked by someone to be appointed, voted in or whatever. i think you should go in his chiefs office and tell him how you feel and take it from there. someone always losses out, take it as a learning experience and understand that the good guy doesnt always win. But im sure the other guys friends feel he is a good guy too.

Doogie
04-09-2008, 08:37 AM
He isnt a good guy...he steps all over ANYONE he can, rats them out, takes what he can. When it comes to fund raising time where we have to sell these "300 club tickets" he didnt take one to sell. Not one. And these tickets are for the benefit of the department since we are a non-profit organization...the general un-written rule with these tickets is if you cant sell any to people you at least buy one yourself. He didnt do that...The guy who lost the election has raised about $30,000 for a county parade in 2010 in the last 4 years.

The worst part is the guys who elected him in have NEVER fought an interior fire. I was informed by one of the better older members that the department was filled with elections like this where they dragged out these old members to vote in elections against people they just didnt like. AKA people who told the truth and were direct and who fought fire. He said the place leveled out and filled up with guys who did stuff for the department and fought fires as well. The company got good there in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Now we are back to being a shit hole where 90% of the people who voted this man in can hardly fucking walk anymore!!!!

These people are determining who is in charge or not. Not the younger guys who actually do things. We havent accepted a new member since 2006...We also have such a restrictive driver training program where in order to become an officer you have to be able to drive all the trucks. Well with the 5 members resigning they really have no one who can fill those slots. There are 5 empty officer slots...Our fire district is under covered right now, and frankly are in danger of killing someone in the district. The guy who got elected chief parked on top of a fucking hose line during a house fire cutting off water to guys inside the fire!!!! That type of shit happened in the 1970's, not in the 2000's. I also found out some of the younger guys supported this piece of shit to advance up the ladder faster...

Pieces of shit with no integrity. They have slapped us who do stuff for the fire department in the face for the last time. One of the guys who was pissed last night is seriously one of the nicest guys around. He was so pissed off he scared the shit out of guys who were in the room with him they left and wouldnt say anything to him. To surmize, the good guys lost. The good guys lost and the fire department will suffer and a taxpayer will lose their life under this reign. They are far underprepared, littered with incompetence, do ZERO training, welcome in nothing but older men who can not fight fires and chase out people who do stuff for the department. Good times.

God I am so fucking pissed right now typing this I can seriously grab my rifle and kill all these cocksuckers with zero remorse. I would feel no remorse....I wont, but I feel that pissed off.

Snacks
04-09-2008, 09:01 AM
sounds like a typical work place. eveyone usually does its like any other office. the old fuckers that do no work are the bosses or have seniority and the younger newer workers do all the work. its poilitcal, thats just the way it is.

now there is something i have to call you out on. you just made a statment that your new chief is a rat. well we had this argument before about you being a rat because of a former military buddy, friend, enemy, whatever. you decided to rat him out because of a uniform or pin at a parade. why is that any different? a rat is a rat is a rat. lets not become a hypocrite.

Doogie
04-09-2008, 09:08 AM
sounds like a typical work place. eveyone usually does its like any other office. the old fuckers that do no work are the bosses or have seniority and the younger newer workers do all the work. its poilitcal, thats just the way it is.

now there is something i have to call you out on. you just made a statment that your new chief is a rat. well we had this argument before about you being a rat because of a former military buddy, friend, enemy, whatever. you decided to rat him out because of a uniform or pin at a parade. why is that any different? a rat is a rat is a rat. lets not become a hypocrite.

Are you allowed to impersonate an officer?? A police officer?? No you are not and you are not allowed to do it when you are military, former or not...You obviously were never military, nor a police officer so you have no grounds to stand on that one. "Calling me out" is fucking bullshit!!!!!!!!!!! It is two different things. Two wayyyyyyyyyy fucking different things.

Justice4all
04-09-2008, 11:40 AM
sounds like this piece of shit as you call him isnt that bad. he has to be liked by someone to be appointed, voted in or whatever. i think you should go in his chiefs office and tell him how you feel and take it from there. someone always losses out, take it as a learning experience and understand that the good guy doesnt always win. But im sure the other guys friends feel he is a good guy too.

Ant, you don't have to be a decent person to be voted into a position. (although i wish it WAS the case)
All you have to be is slimy and manipulative most of the time.


Doog, he was trying to point out you had posted about wanting to tell about the guy who marched in the parade. But I have to admit there are degrees in being a rat.
If you do it for the good of the community or to keep someone from getting hurt...not a bad thing.
How is this new cheif a rat? What has he done in that aspect?

And with your bro now gone are you also going to resign/step down/quit?? Do you think if enough people will do so that it might effect change and cause them to come back?
I know you we talked a little about this last summer when we were in the house. Sorry it came to this.

And you can bet I will be there for the softball game.

Snacks
04-09-2008, 12:20 PM
Are you allowed to impersonate an officer?? A police officer?? No you are not and you are not allowed to do it when you are military, former or not...You obviously were never military, nor a police officer so you have no grounds to stand on that one. "Calling me out" is fucking bullshit!!!!!!!!!!! It is two different things. Two wayyyyyyyyyy fucking different things.

wrong i enlisted in the navy and my father was a on the job in essex county nj. the guy you ratted on was in the military and he wasnt hurting anyone. at the time you didnt know for sure if he earned his stripes or not. he wasnt a guy on the street wearing who never served. you can call it bullshit, but i call it the same thing.

you are mad about things that this guy is probably mad at you about. you are mad because a guy you dont like got elected, shit like that happens all the time. if your boy would have won im sure some of the others would be pissed he won. they other guy obviouslt had more support. if he won would he have helped you move up or would he have been a guy that looked out for you? i would say yes, but it didnt work out for you. now others have the conncetion. sometimes it works out in your favor. this time it didnt. like i said before, be a man and tell this guy what you think or if hes really as bad as you say look to move to another dept.

dont get mad or pissy with me for calling you out on the same thing "I FEEL" is the same exact thing. actually what you did will probably get the guy in more trouble. i gurantee if you were friends with someone who wore something like that you would never have tattle taled on him.

Doogie
04-09-2008, 12:22 PM
wrong i enlisted in the navy and my father was a on the job in essex county nj. the guy you ratted on was in the military and he wasnt hurting anyone. at the time you didnt know for sure if he earned his stripes or not. he wasnt a guy on the street wearing who never served. you can call it bullshit, but i call it the same thing.

you are mad about things that this guy is probably mad at you about. you are mad because a guy you dont like got elected, shit like that happens all the time. if your boy would have won im sure some of the others would be pissed he won. they other guy obviouslt had more support. if he won would he have helped you move up or would he have been a guy that looked out for you? i would say yes, but it didnt work out for you. now others have the conncetion. sometimes it works out in your favor. this time it didnt. like i said before, be a man and tell this guy what you think or if hes really as bad as you say look to move to another dept.

dont get mad or pissy with me for calling you out on the same thing "I FEEL" is the same exact thing. actually what you did will probably get the guy in more trouble. i gurantee if you were friends with someone who wore something like that you would never have tattle taled on him.

I dont think you understand anything at all...and this is a forum for venting. If you dont have anything useful to help with, shut the fuck up...

Sarge
04-09-2008, 01:13 PM
I'm a volunteer in north Jersey, so obviously I don't know exactly how New York works. That being said, how do non active, or social members have the right to vote on firematic positions. Maybe it is different because of the by-laws you mentioned, but in my fire house once you go in-active, you lose the right to vote on firematic positions. You can still vote, and run for social positions but nothing else. Does your department take the N.F.P.A. physicals? I don't know for sure if they are mandatory, but we have to take them and it weeded out alot of do nothings. Based on what your saying this guy won't pass, and you won't have to worry about it to long. On the other side, I've been doing this 20 years, I'm a line officer now and I'll be the first to admit it is usually a popularity contest. I'm lucky in that the chief of my company is a captain for a career department for a city in the area, and runs things great. We haven't had those problems in a long time, just remember it will pass, they can't stay chief for ever. Do what you got to do to get by, and get the job done safely. Good luck.

Knowledged_one
04-09-2008, 02:39 PM
Doogie,

Sorry to hear about this, it may be true that nice guys finish last, and Brian is just the nice guy that doesnt play the political game and suffers because of it, it doesnt make him a bad guy, just a good guy who doesnt play the game

My only advice is take a few days to think this through and cool down before doing something you regret

and exposing a liar does not make you a rat