CLEVELAND—A Cleveland firefighter was among those that Fire Chief Angelo Calvillo asked to sign a nominating petition backing Mayor Frank Jackson’s 2017 re-election, according to the firefighters’ union.
The 750-member Association of Cleveland Fire Fighters made the allegation in a four-page legal analysis supporting the union’s contention that Calvillo violated the city charter by circulating the petitions and must be fired.
The chief asking a subordinate to support the mayor’s candidacy is the kind of political pressure that charter’s prohibitions sought to prevent, according to the union’s letter, signed by attorney Joseph Diemert, and sent this week to Law Director Barbara Langhenry.
“How could an employee refuse the request of his chief?” Diemert asks.
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Diemert didn’t name the firefighter in his letter and declined Wednesday to identify him to cleveland.com, citing a need to protect the employee from retaliation.
The firefighter lives in Old Brooklyn, the neighborhood in which the chief resides, Diemert said. Both men were off duty when the chief asked the firefighter if he’d like to sign the mayor’s nominating petition in early 2017.
The firefighter did sign the petition, Diemert told cleveland.com.
Diemert, in his letter, cites a 1940 ruling from the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals that says the prohibition on politicking was “enacted to protect civil service employees from political pressure and dictation of superior officers and officials, leaving them free to perform their duties.”
The union, Local 93 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, demanded Calvillo’s ouster for violating a charter provisions that says employees may not "circulate or seek signatures to any petition provided for by primary or election laws, or act as a worker in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office,” the charter says.
In a deposition in 2017, Calvillo acknowledged he had helped circulate nominating petitions for Jackson’s re-election early that year.
The charter says anyone who violates the prohibitions could be charged with a misdemeanor crime and fined and jailed, as well as forfeit their job.
This week, the union told Langhenry she must act before the close of business Tuesday or it will seek the chief’s removal in court. It may might also seek the chief’s prosecution, Diemert said.
Langhenry previously rejected the union’s demands in a statement.
“The Civil Service Commission’s Rules do not prohibit a city employee who is a member of the classified service from circulating a candidacy petition in a nonpartisan election," Langhenry said. "Cleveland’s mayor is nominated in a nonpartisan primary election. The Charter gives the Civil Service Commission the authority to adopt rules.”
The city has issued no further statements.
Calvillo wouldn’t comment on the union’s demands but told cleveland.com Wednesday that he remains dedicated to his job.
“I’m here for the city and the people of Cleveland,” Calvillo said. “I was born and raised here. I’m here to serve.”
The dispute is the latest in a string of complaints from the union against Calvillo over working conditions in fire stations and worker safety related to staffing and equipment issues.
In February, the union took a no confidence vote. More than 600 of about 620 members who voted supported the no-confidence declaration.
In April the union told Cleveland City Council that all of the fire department’s rescue-squad vehicles, nearly half of the fire engines and more than half of the hook-and-ladder trucks were rated in fair or poor condition.
A string of controversies have rattled the fire department over much of the last decade.
In 2011, a series of city audits revealed some firefighters had paid co-workers to work their 24-hour shifts while they continued to collect their full salary and benefits.
That led to disciplinary action, dismissals and ultimately indictments.
Then-Fire Chief Daryl McGinnis, hired in part to restore public trust in the department, retired abruptly in August 2013 after becoming the source of another controversy.
After a public-information request to view McGinnis’ training records by cleveland.com’s Leila Atassi, the city discovered the chief had completed only 22 of the required 40 hours of continuing education between 2009 and 2012.
Sean DeCrane, a 25-year veteran of the department, sued the city and several employees in 2016, claiming he was subject to retaliation based on an erroneous belief that he had leaked information about McGinnis.
DeCrane, Third Battalion chief when he left the department, said he warned city officials about McGinnis’ record in January 2013.
His lawsuit against the city is pending in federal court.
Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Kelly took the helm after McGinnis left. Kelly retired in 2015. Calvillo was sworn in by Jackson as Kelly’s successor that October.
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