Alan Ozuna, Lenny Perez, Ricardo NavarroOn paper it seemed like a David and Goliath legal matchup with the city hiring two high priced labor specialists, attorneys Ricardo Navarro and Alan Ozuna for the Marco Longoria employment hearing while Marco was represented by a non-attorney, retired fireman Louis Hebert. Remarkably, the legal braintrust of City Attorney Mark Sossi and his two assistants seemingly sat idle during this process although still earning a combined salary of over $250,000 a year. If they were involved in paralegal or research efforts, I apologize.
The website for Navarro which includes Ozuna lists labor and employment law, collective bargaining and civil service as among their areas of expertise. They also represent the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool or TML-IRP, a self-insurance group charging an administrative fee to the city of Brownsville. A wooden TML plaque is prominently mounted in the 4th floor hearing room of the city commission building. A self-insurance group tends to resist claims, putting them into the appeal process. The two labor law specialists could find themselves in a no-lose situation if they can work for TML, but still be hired guns for the city when appeals are pursued.
To several courtroom observers of yesterday's hearing, Navarro and Ozuna did little to earn their money being outlawyered easily by retired firefighter Louis Hebert. Hebert seemed to easily lift the facade from three important witnesses for the city. Fire Chief Lenny Perez, the city's principal witness, the only one not sequestered, seemed totally flustered by Hebert's homespun question: "Now, Chief Perez, you don't much like Marco Longoria, do you?" Perez stumbled into an obvious perjury: "No, I, I, uh care for him." Judging by the smattering of laughter, no one bought that.
Louis HebertTwo other important city witnesses were employed at the time by T.A.T.T.S., a company that collects urine samples and sends them off for testing. Mr. Gonzalez, the former staff sergeant, who allegedly "raised his voice" to Marco Longoria" also fell into Hebert's trap, getting him to talk about his army days, when he didn't simply ask, but commanded his men. He even finished Hebert's sentence "When you asked them to jump, they said" with his own "how high?" Gonzalez's assistant, another witness, was a lady who obviously did not speak English at the clinic. When asked to describe Longoria's attitude at the time of the incident she spoke a well-rehearsed "arrogant". When asked to describe the admittedly loud-talking Gonzalez conduct, she said "professional." Chuckles broke out. Despite repeating those two words flawlessly, she could not grasp the simplest of Hebert's questions. Even Navarro admitted at this point that the lady did not speak English. The rehearsed testimony had fallen flatter than flat.
Meanwhile Navarro droned on and on for the bulk of the seven hours, repeating and repeating himself again. Frequently, he tried to give testimony himself, but Hebert objected each time. Finally, hearing judge Richard Dole instructed Navarro to "ask a question".
The whole unnecessary proceeding illustrates that the city does not have a thinking cap with respect to prudent use of taxpayer funds. City Manager Charlie Cabler is not managing well.
Jim, I have nothing against the president of the local union, but he sounds like disturbed man. He should be mentally evaluated.
ReplyDeleteNaming a stray dog, chief, was outright evil. It is guys like this one, that makes unions have negative connotations.
Luz
Firefighters, by nature are cynical and confrontational. I have visited numerous fire depts. and most firefighters dislike the fire chiefs.
ReplyDeleteThey forget the fire Chief works under a city manager, who works for elected officials.
Jimmy, time to remove Len Peres from the position. He has no management skills, he never did, and he never will. The city is paying too much money on lawyers for petty stuff.
ReplyDeleteFirefighters need to clean up their act. People are now looking at them as greedy. The more they get, the more they want.
Lucy
Something not mentioned is that the suspension was orchestrated by Chief Perez and Charlie Atkinson. Atkinson was upset because he did not get the endorsement of the firefighters.
ReplyDelete