Firestorm of Questions

The questions swirling around Los Angeles Fire Chief Donald O. Manning grow more troubling all the time.

A Times report Tuesday on an organization headed by Manning is only the latest cause for serious concern. The organization’s stated purpose was to raise funds for establishing a fire museum. But it turns out city officials didn’t know that it was Manning’s nonprofit organization, not the city, that received rent income generated by the publicly owned station that was to be the museum site. Perhaps this will prod the mayor and the City Council to review whether Manning’s tenure as chief serves the best interest of the city and the Fire Department any longer.

Downtown’s turn-of-the-century Fire Station 23 is often used as a movie set. Although it is city-owned, the city has received none of the rent or film fees paid for use of the building over the last decade. Instead, the more than $200,000 collected was banked by an organization called Olde 23’s, headed by Manning and an aide. It turns out that the station has not been the proposed site of the museum for years, and records show no money ever was spent toward establishing the museum.

This is not the first problem to surround Manning. In November, a harshly worded city audit found that women and minorities were all but excluded from top fire posts and were subjected to harassment. Manning countered that his own probe had found no departmental wrongdoing, but the city Personnel Department, investigating at the request of the council, confirmed the audit’s findings.

Manning ordered another probe last month after new charges that top brass had been hostile to women firefighters, and he then sought an internal review of his own investigation. A closed-door probe of the department by a City Council committee is ongoing, and two weeks ago the city controller began inquiries into the Olde 23’s funds. On Tuesday a City Council motion was introduced directing the city attorney and the Department of Public Works to undertake a similar inquiry.

All this is beyond ridiculous--not to mention demeaning to city taxpayers and rank-and-file firefighters. The mayor and the City Council must act now to restore the Fire Department’s integrity.