The good people at MayorSlay.com – who the EYE takes to include Mayor Francis G. Slay, Chief of Staff Jeff Rainford, PR consultant Richard Callow and spokesman Ed Rhode, possibly among others – either do not have at their disposal a complete record of the correspondence of City Director of Public Safety Sam Simon or they do not fully grasp the grammar of the English language as it pertains to a direct command.
Apparently responding to a news report in the Aug. 30 edition of the American (which is neither quoted nor even referenced on the mayor’s blog), Slay-Rainford-Callow-Rhode write on an Aug. 31 posting:
Did an action taken by the City’s public safety director, Sam Simon, nearly leave the Fire Department without some necessary firefighting equipment? It is a question worth asking, but only if one is willing to accept the truth as an answer.
Five years ago, two St. Louis firefighters died tragically. Their widows filed suit against the manufacturer and distributor of some of the Department’s equipment. In the course of the first trial, testimony suggested that equipment might be defective. Both widows are convinced the equipment contributed to the deaths of their husbands.
Armed with that information, Simon wrote to the distributor asking for a $1.2 million refund. The distributor responded by offering to remove the equipment, but without refunding any cash. Simon declined. At no point did Simon ever order the equipment removed.
It is easy to see why Slay and company did not quote directly from the story in the American, which is based only on signed documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. That is because in a letter signed by Simon on July 12 – which he sent to Christine J. Bierman, president and CEO of Colt Safety Inc. – Simon directly and unmistakably demands Bierman’s company to “accept the return” of the airmasks (also known as a self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBA). As the American reported last week:
“The St. Louis Fire Department has spent over $1,200,000 on the initial purchase of the SCBA’s and related equipment, upgrades and replacement parts,” Simon wrote to Bierman, with no copy to George.
“Toward a resolution, we demand that you accept the return of all of the SCBA’s purchased, and refund the City of St. Louis $1,200,000 by August 1, 2007. We would appreciate a response within 10 days of this letter.”
But why take the EYE’s word for this? Simon’s letter, which contains this direct demand, is reprinted on this page.
(click here to view the complete letter.)
The mayor could almost be forgiven for not having at his disposal this letter when reporting the alleged facts of the matter on his blog, because Simon did not copy Slay on the letter to Bierman, nor did he copy Fire Chief Sherman George. Bierman, however, included copies of Simon’s July 12 letter when she wrote to Slay on July 17, copying Simon and George. So Slay and company do have a copy of Simon’s signed letter in which he clearly issues the “demand” that the company take back its airmasks – by August 1 – when the Fire Department had no plan to replace them.
“Partisans and critics alike continue to bicker, sometimes egged on by bad reporting,” the mayor’s blog says regarding Simon’s leadership and the Fire Department. Since no one but the American has been reporting on Simon’s competency (or shortage thereof), it must be the reporting in this paper that is allegedly “bad.” But surely reprinting a direct quote from a signed letter is not “bad” reporting, and this is what Simon said – directly:
“Toward a resolution, we demand that you accept the return of all of the SCBA’s purchased, and refund the City of St. Louis $1,200,000 by August 1, 2007.”
And surely it is not “bad” reporting to report a “demand” as a demand. That is simply letting grammar be one’s guide in interpreting the English language.
In another post on mayorslay.com, using the same pompous tone, Slay-Rainford-Callow-Rhode write, “One of the challenging things about the current state of news reporting is the mix of rumor and fact that gets churned around in blogs, talk shows and boards – and then re-reported on mainstream TV and radio.”
It should be evident from Simon’s signed letter and the statement of the “facts” on mayorslay.com that the mayor’s own blog is guilty of mixing rumor and outright lies with whatever facts it churns around – and, unfortunately, the mayor’s version of events too often gets “re-reported on mainstream TV and radio,” whether or not it is based in fact.