Panel Ends Hearing in Fireman’s Complaint : Hawthorne: After seven months, all the testimony has been heard in the Dennis Patriquin case. A decision is due by June 14.

To hear his attorney tell it, Hawthorne firefighter Dennis Patriquin is a hero who, like Julius Caesar, was betrayed by a band of conspirators who were jealous of his popularity and ambition.

But in the view of Hawthorne’s attorney, Patriquin is nothing more than a disgruntled employee who lost his promotion because he was emotionally unstable, couldn’t get along with his peers and failed to follow orders.

Those conflicting images of Patriquin, 45, were painted during final arguments Thursday night before the five-member Civil Service Commission, which will decide whether the Fire Department was justified in revoking Patriquin’s probationary promotion to engineer in September, 1987.

The commission’s decision, expected to be made public by June 14, will end the seven-month-long Fire Department personnel hearing that has been unprecedented for its scope, length and number of witnesses.

Commission Chairman Les Wixon took note of that, saying that since the hearing began those gathered had grown to be “almost like a family. Thank you, and if we see each other again, I hope it’s over coffee.”

The hearing was ordered by a Superior Court judge after Patriquin sued the city, the Fire Department and its top officers, seeking punitive and compensatory damages. He claimed that the department demoted him for participating in city politics. The judge ordered the Civil Service Commission to hear Patriquin’s complaints, which it had twice refused to do, before the lawsuit could proceed.

During the hearing, Patriquin said he was demoted because he gave City Councilwoman Ginny Lambert information about overtime pay and departmental expenditures. He said he was punished simply for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech.

The documents, both sides agree, were leaked during a time when the city was embroiled in a debate over dismantling the Fire Department and contracting with the county for fire services. Lambert favored a study to determine whether contracting for fire services would be more economical for the city.

The Hawthorne Fire Department opposed the idea, and the council eventually voted 3 to 2 against the study.

The politically divisive issue stirred strong emotions in the community. During an internal investigation by the Fire Department, Patriquin admitted that he had leaked information to Lambert partly in an attempt to block the promotion of Fire Chief Roger Milstead. He received a written reprimand.

Although that was supposed to be the end of it, knowledge of Patriquin’s actions spread among his colleagues. There were death threats against him and a dead animal was left in Lambert’s front yard, according to testimony. A confrontation between Patriquin and Hawthorne Firemen’s Assn. President William Moorhead turned into a shoving match.

Urged to take a brief leave of absence in August, 1987, Patriquin returned to work to find that he had failed his one-year probation as an engineer. At one point, he said he told Milstead that his demotion caused him to feel suicidal.

In a closing speech that compared Patriquin to Caesar and John F. Kennedy and made references to Ray Bradbury’s novel about censorship and thought-control, “Fahrenheit 451,” attorney Robert Swensen told the commissioners that Patriquin was clearly victimized for exercising his right to free speech.

As Patriquin’s wife and three children watched, Swensen listed every commendation and favorable evaluation Patriquin received during his 17-year career. He said those evaluations changed only after Patriquin confessed to having leaked the documents.

“Mr. Patriquin made political mistakes,” Swensen said. “He forgot the old, old adage that I learned as a youngster. And that is, you can’t fight City Hall . . . unless you’re willing to pay the ultimate price.”

But the city’s attorney, Richard Terzian, disagreed, saying Patriquin’s belligerence and actions against the department made him unfit to be an engineer, a job that requires the trust and cooperation of fellow firefighters.

An engineer drives the fire engine and manages the water pump.

Noting that no firefighters testified on Patriquin’s behalf, Terzian said, “This rejection from engineer rank--a probationary rank--had nothing to do with any First Amendment Rights or free speech or ‘going county’ or criticizing how much money was being spent or any of the other red herrings that have been tossed out here.”

“It’s painfully obvious from the testimony, letters and memos,” Terzian said later, that Patriquin was unqualified to be an engineer and that “rather than face up to the facts, to work on (his) problems as he was given an opportunity to do,” he instead filed suit.

Lambert, who testified at the hearing and sat in the audience during Thursday’s final arguments, said in an interview during a recess, “I feel bad about all this.”

She indicated that some of what happened to Patriquin was caused by her political inexperience. “I was new to the council and didn’t know how to go about getting that information,” she said. “I didn’t understand why he was in jeopardy because other people talk to their employees, it’s a constitutional right. Neither of us viewed our conversation as being subversive or covert.”