Fire Department and City of Charlotte need better whistleblower protections

I have questions for fire chief and HR

I congratulate Councilwoman Claire Green Fallon for having the courage and common sense to speak up about the Crystal Eschert case. Can we hope other members of the council will follow suit?

The whole case casts serious doubts about the competence of Fire Chief Jon Hannan; and – from the statements made in Councilwoman Fallon’s letter – I must question the ability of City Attorney Bob Hagemann. I also wonder what the department’s HR team was doing when an action was taken to retaliate against a whistle-blower.

This calls for an inquiry and potentially a general house-cleaning!

Kudos to Eschert for taking on ‘the man’

It is refreshing to see that the old adage “you can’t fight city hall” is wrong. Crystal Eschert, former fire investigator, proved it to the tune of $1.5 million.

The argument that her post on Facebook was the reason for her firing was proved spurious. While I do not agree with her post on Facebook, she has the same right to free speech as any other person. She should be reinstated to her old job with back pay and a promotion, but this will not happen. If it did, I am sure she would be stepping into a hostile work environment.

Save Governor’s School from cuts

As a student at a private university, I am lucky enough to have single-digit class sizes, grants for research, and unparalleled advising that I never had in my tenure in the North Carolina public school system. I look back on my time very fondly, however, due largely to one reason — North Carolina Governor’s School.

For one summer, I joined 649 other talented students and attended a publicly funded enrichment program that would completely change the way I saw the world. Among the many important lessons I learned, a relevant one here was on unity and advocacy for the future. In this ever-polarized state, the least we can agree on is the importance of educating the next generation and investing in their futures. We should expect our elected representatives to do the same.

Voter ID laws apply to everyone

So, N.C. law sought to suppress the black vote in five ways: a strict voter ID provision; eliminated same day registration and pre-registration of teens; a cut the early voting days (Note: Total hours polls were open remained the same); and a ban on provisional ballots. Why does this only suppress the black vote? It applies to everyone.

I believe that all citizens want fair and true elections and that all citizens are capable of complying with the new law. Because the 4^th Circuit Court said that the N.C. voting law discriminated against African American voters “with almost surgical precision” doesn’t make it a fact. Courts render opinions not facts.

Berger, Moore, and election integrity

The pledge by state legislators Tim Moore and Phil Berger to keep fighting for voter ID legislation “to protect the integrity of our elections” is laughable given their positions on gerrymandering. There is no comparison as to which of those two factors harms democracy the most, and they know it.

Be careful when defending Trump

Perhaps Trump apologists such as Bill Wallace should wait 48 hours before talking about the justifications for President Trump’s actions. Otherwise, they run the risk of looking like fools, much as President Trump just made his staff and Vice President Pence look with the administration’s ever-changing rationale for former FBI Director James Comey’s firing.

It’s ironic that President Trump will so easily throw under the bus those from whom he demands such loyalty.

This story was originally published May 18, 2017 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Fire Department and City of Charlotte need better whistleblower protections."