Women Belittled, Ex-Fire Chief Says

Derogatory comments by some county administrators contributed to a difficult work environment for women employees, former county Fire Chief Larry Holms testified Monday in a sexual discrimination lawsuit against the county and Health Care Agency Director Tom Uram.

The suit, on behalf of former Finance Director Eileen T. Walsh, claims that she was wrongly demoted from her executive job to the county’s trash department after the county’s 1994 bankruptcy by a vindictive “good old boys’ network” running government during the crisis.

But the county’s attorney contends that she was moved by Uram within his discretion as interim county administrator, and that she was sent to work for Integrated Waste Management Department Director Murry S. Cable to protect her from losing her job.

Holms, who was Walsh’s first witness in the case, testified that he was often uncomfortable with sexually derogatory comments and “coarse language” that peppered Monday morning department head meetings before the bankruptcy. He said Uram and Cable frequently sat together; both at different times made comments that they wanted Walsh to work for them so they could “put her in her place.”

The comments were made before the meetings began, said Holms, who retired in April. He said Uram told him before one meeting to “watch my backside” with Walsh and called her a “manipulative bitch.”

Earlier, in opening statements, the county’s lawyer, Norman Watkins, described a county government in chaos in the wake of the bankruptcy and that Uram needed to pull together a crisis management team. He said Walsh, as finance director, was heavily involved in financial deals that “went awry.”

Walsh’s attorney, Steven J. Kaplan, contended Walsh had previous run-ins with Uram.

Walsh claimed in her lawsuit that she was demoted not only because of Uram’s animus toward her but also in retaliation for being quoted in a newspaper article about the county’s relationship with its investment advisors.

Walsh told the newspaper that she had been ordered by Cable, then assistant county administrator, to add a Santa Monica-based financial consultant to a list of proposed consultants for a bond offering in 1990. The request allegedly came from Supervisor Roger R. Stanton through Cable, who retired in 1995 and died this year.

Stanton, expected to testify later this week, has denied through his attorney that he asked for the consultant’s name to be added or that he retaliated against Walsh.

Walsh testified Monday that Cable took her to a meeting with Stanton and berated her in his presence for not adding financial advisor Jeffrey Leifer to a list of those being considered for a lucrative contract by county supervisors.