Fireman’s Dispute Over His Demotion Drags Out 7 Months

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 city 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 recently during final arguments 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 a 7-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 twice had 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.

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.