Rather than simply groan and curse, this week the EYE called Jake Wagman after reading his front-page reporting on the City fire department debacle in Monday’s Post-Dispatch. Questions and answers follow.
EYE: Do you know when battalion chiefs became eligible for the position of fire chief in the City fire department?
Jake: It’s my understanding this is in the City Charter and it’s nothing that can be changed lightly.
In fact, this is the first time in department history that battalion chiefs were eligible for the open position of fire chief. Previously, only deputy chiefs in the department were eligible.
Wagman’s story in Monday’s Post said that the top two candidates for the job are Deputy Chief Charles Coyle, a black man, and Battalion Chief Curtis Jenkerson, a white man.
Coyle is the only deputy chief among the front-runners. If only deputy chiefs were eligible, he would have had a lock on the job. You wouldn’t know this from reading the Post-Dispatch.
EYE: Why didn’t you mention that Jenkerson is under investigation by the City police department for allegedly ordering an on-duty group of firefighters to cut a diving board from the pool of Louis Hamilton (who is a campaign advisor for Mayor Francis G. Slay)? The American reported Hamilton verifying that this, in fact, did happen.
Jake: I had read your coverage about the Louis Hamilton episode but didn’t realize Jenkerson was involved in that.
Well, Jake, here is the homework you aren’t doing. From an October 11, 2007, bylined front page story in the American:
On July 2, Captain Abe Pruitt told fire department investigators that in the summer of 2001 Jenkerson had authorized a group of nine firefighters, including Pruitt and himself, to cut a diving board from a swimming pool at a private residence while on company time.
According to Pruitt, Jenkerson authorized this work done for the residents of 5228 Westminster Pl. because they were donors to a charitable fire department fund. The residents are Louis P. and Patricia E. Hamilton, according to property records.
Louis Hamilton told the American that uniformed firefighters did, in fact, pull out an old diving board platform on his property. He said it was done as a training exercise, not as a favor, and not at his request.
In a previous interview with the American, City Counselor Patricia A. Hageman said that authorizing personal work on City time could be prosecuted as a felony. She said this in reference to a City police investigation of allegations that Fire Academy recruits had been ordered to perform personal work on City time.
This information was taken up again by the EYE in the October 18 edition, giving Jake a second chance to follow up on some spicy stuff. But he “didn’t realize Jenkerson was involved” when putting together a front-page report on Jenkerson’s candidacy for Sherman George’s old job.
“We do our very best to cut right down the middle and be an objective arbiter,” was how Wagman summarized his reporting on the fire department.
By the way, Jeff Rainford, Richard Callow and eventually Mike Owens of KSDK were pushing the misuse of Fire Academy recruits story as part of a pattern of pressure put upon Chief George. Which deputy chief oversaw the Fire Academy at the time? Charlie Coyle!
Alleged misuse of personnel on Charlie Coyle’s watch? Read all about it in the daily paper and tune in for your local network news report. Alleged misuse of personnel on Curtis Jenkerson’s watch? Then “it’s time to put rumors and accusations to rest,” as Rainford (most likely) wrote for acting chief Steve Kotraba to say about the investigation into Jenkerson (and Kotraba himself).
Why does this stuff fit so neatly together? Because it fits so neatly together!