Posts Tagged ‘Dennis L. Rubin’
Fire Chief Rubin Taunted At Hearing
On March 4, testimony got heated at the Fire Department's oversight hearing. After Dennis L. Rubin testified before Councilmember Phil Mendelson's Judiciary Committee, Firefighter Chris Sullivan took his turn at the witness table.
Mendo asked Rubin to remain in the room so he could hear Sullivan's testimony. Rubin complied. He then proceeded to take a verbal beat down.
Sullivan ran down his personnel file for the better part of six minutes. His testimony mirrors that of a lot of other firefighters. There are scores of firefighters who are seething over Rubin's handling of personnel issues. This is one of those cases. Sullivan claims that he was wrongly charged with going AWOL in April of 2008. He went on to say that he was found not guilty.
This led to other charges. A stint on administrative leave with pay and details out of his firehouse. And more in-fighting all over very minor charges it seems. But then as Sullivan concluded his testimony, he turned to Rubin and other fire department officials and went off.
Firefighters: ‘We Know The Dark Figure Of Rubin’
Last night, WJLA reported that a pair of D.C. Firefighters are readying a civil lawsuit aimed squarely at D.C. Fire Department Chief Dennis L. Rubin. This fight has been brewing for years. The firefighters are claiming that their own department has botched numerous fire investigations and that the upper brass retaliated against them when they complained within the department and to the media. The fight heated up soon after the Eastern Market fire which some investigators say was arson.
The fight over the Eastern Market fire did not sit well with Rubin apparently. I know first hand how Rubin handles tough inquiries into that case. But investigators persisted. They complained about how the Mount Pleasant fire was handled and so on. Meanwhile, Rubin was still Chief Rubin.
The inevitable happened. Two whistleblowers---D.C. Arson Investigators Greg Bowyer and Gerald Pennington---were transferred to something called the Community Services Unit and generally toyed with. Now Bowyer and Pennington are fighting back. They plan on filing a lawsuit this week. They have scheduled a press conference for tomorrow at noon at Eastern Market. Last night we reached Bowyer.
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