White’s Witch Hunt and a Scalp for the Firefighter Union

Local democrat constituencies will no longer have Darren White to kick around anymore. White worked as Albuquerque’s Public Safety Directory under Mayor Richard Berry up to last Friday July 15th when he announced his retirement. A retirement spurred by hysterics tied to a recent automobile accident involving White’s wife. The hysterics involved two actions taken by White in response to the accident, first there were unconfirmed reports that he responded to the scene with lights and sirens and second that he took his wife to the hospital in his own car rather than waiting for fire crew ambulances to do so.

On the first charge, if it is true that White did respond to the scene with sirens and lights, on surface it appears to be inappropriate. Not knowing the responsibilities of the Public Safety Director and whether or not they legally may respond with lights and sirens to the scene of an accident are unclear at best. And even if it was a legal action, it does not seem appropriate for an official to respond in an official capacity to the scene of an accident unless they are closest to that scene, because it allows the appearance of that official granting themselves special benefits not available to other citizens. However, considering human behavior it is completely reasonable to consider why an official would react in that way. And knowing that, unless the action from unconfirmed reports can be tied to a pattern of the same it is no reason for a person to lose their job.

The second charge is nothing more than a partisan political attack by a highly politicized public sector union. There is nothing neither illegal nor inappropriate in a person choosing to transport their spouse to the hospital after an accident after completing any police reports at the scene. There is no law stating that a person must wait for the arrival of a fire crew operated ambulance to then transport them to a hospital despite what the wishes of the firefighter union. It may be in the best interest of the patient because of their condition, but it may not be necessary. It certainly is in the best interests of that ambulance crew because they may bill the patient, at an exorbitant rate.

Beginning with the tenure of Mayor Berry the local firefighter union has been at odds with his administration because of hard decisions that had to be made because of unsustainable collective bargaining deals made with prior administrations. As part of that administration, White has been targeted by the firefighter union even before he started in the role of Public Safety Director. In a transparently politically motivated vote, the firefighter union went forward with a vote of no confidence in White because he took his wife to the hospital after an accident instead of waiting longer for a union staffed ambulance to arrive and instead of wanting to pay somewhere in the vicinity of an extra thousand dollars for the services of that union staffed ambulance.

Make no mistake, the firefighter union is nothing more than a rent seeking democrat constituent, playing on public sympathies to further enrich themselves at the expense of the public. The no confidence vote was nothing more than an act by the firefighter union to force White’s ouster, and they got it. Most firefighters are decent and necessary but there is a line crossed when they become democrat union operatives. People who do something that is not illegal lose their jobs for political reasons, and that is why Darren White resigned, to end the distraction from rent seeking immature and shameful political opponents masquerading as public labor champions