Portland Firefighters Association Local 43 President Ken Burns told his members in a letter [PDF] yesterday that he will not seek re-election to a second term next month.
Time has sped by at an alarming rate. I have three boys still at home; two of whom will be out of the house within two years. So many of you have been very supportive and encouraging which has made this a difficult decision, but after long discussions with my family, I have decided to spend as much time as possible with them while we are all still together.
The firefighters union is a potent political force whose endorsements and horsepower have played a key role in city elections. Burns steps down from a position that launched the political careers of City Commissioner Randy Leonard and Tom Chamberlain, the President of the AFL-CIO Oregon.
Burns, who will remain a battalion chief, maintained a lower profile than some of his predecessors. But he made a statement in 2008 City Council races, when the union declined to back Leonard or any other candidates because of unhappiness over firefighters’ contract. No word yet on potential successors.
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Tags: Ken Burns, Portland, Randy Leonard, Tom Chamberlain
That was short and sweet. One senses there’s more is going on here than meets the eye.
Question Nigel: Clearly Burns knew he had kids at home when he accepted the position 3 years ago. What changed?
And what the hell’s been going on in that department that no one seems to be able to get a handle on? I am referring to what happened to; Scott Edwards and Rick Fizer?
Edwards blew the whistle on improper fire (a contributing factor to the Marysville school fire?) inspections and began getting weird emails at home, used condoms in the mail, and being threatened? “Stuff” Leonard wrote off to sophmoorish pranks? Similar to the porn “stuff” Rick Fizer was harassed by and later sued over. The harassment was supposedly untrackable. B.S.
It’s happened to others. Whistle-blowers and their families have tried to file formal complaints about harassment, with two separate tracing services tracking it back to: SDN / Splitrock Communications / Alliance Communications ($215M government technology /telecommunications contract). It’s all there, they were supplied with the IP addresses 216.249.201.7 and 216.249.201.11 (assigned during mid 05′ – 12/08) and they refused to investigate and/prosecute. Why? One can only assume because they were participating in it.
Hopefully while Mr. Kroger is investigating possible monkey-business at the DPSST, he will look into ALL the “stuff” that’s been going on behind the scenes in Multnomah County local government and expose their corruptness for what it is. IMO, organized crime.