Glendale’s Finance Head Embroiled in War of Words

Brian Butler has long spoken his mind: to Glendale city officials curious about a financial issue, to reporters clamoring for budget figures and to his friends. But his salty vernacular could cost the city finance director his job.

Butler, 51, has been on paid administrative leave since January and will soon face the city’s Civil Service Commission because, according to sources in and out of city government, his way with X-rated words rubbed people inside City Hall the wrong way.

Though neither Butler nor other city officials will talk on the record about specific charges against him, sources involved in the controversy say it was his use of profanities and his “aggressive attitude” that prompted the city’s action.

“They want to fire Brian for being Brian,” said one.

One example, sources said, was Butler’s calling the City Council a “bunch of [expletive] communists” for considering a spending option that would have put the city in debt.

Butler has committed no crimes, violated no written code of conduct and has never been charged with financial improprieties. So the Civil Service Commission will soon have the delicate task of deciding whether off-color language alone is an offense worthy of public disciplinary action or firing.

The complaint against Butler was brought by three city workers who have not been identified.

Many on Butler’s staff came to his defense.

A letter sent to the City Council in February supporting Butler was signed by 25 of the 35 employees in the Finance Department; five employees in the department were absent the day the letter was circulated and five declined, according to a source close the investigation.

“We are aware of Brian’s occasional abrasive language,” reads the letter, “but acknowledge that it is never directed toward anyone in particular. We do not deem it offensive or intimidating in any manner.”

The letter, dated Feb. 24, also states that more than half the staff of Butler’s department is female or nonwhite and never perceived Butler’s language as “sexist or racist.” The letter pleaded with the mayor and City Council to “stop this investigation and allow our leader back to his team.”

He has been finance director since 1983 and served with distinction, said James Rez, a former city manager who worked with Butler. “None of these charges were ever mentioned in his job evaluations and he always had good evaluations,” Rez said. “It’s a political vendetta.”

City Council members and Mayor Larry Zarian said they could not comment on the charges against Butler, citing the city’s confidentiality policies on personnel issues.

Those familiar with the case deny it originated in a political quarrel involving the finance director. Butler has resisted a proposal to establish a separate city auditor’s office, calling it costly and redundant. But the proposal was favored by a majority of council members when they discussed it last year, without taking a vote, and the council plans to reconsider the issue this spring.

“His opposition didn’t lead to the situation he’s in now, but it may have added fuel to the fire of those who want him out,” said Rez.

Official and legal observers said the case against Butler may be unprecedented.

“I can’t think of any situation that’s even similar to this,” said Robert Thompson, deputy general counsel of the California Public Employment Relations Board, which enforces labor laws.

“This sounds more like a 1st Amendment issue, which is typically litigated in court, not decided by lawmakers,” he said. “But swearing in the workplace, I’ve never seen a case like that.”

The case does not fit the usual pattern of complaints that target harassment of protected classes such as minorities and women, said Myonia Gibbs, southern regional director of the California Fair Employment and Housing Department, which enforces state civil rights laws.

In recent years, enforcement of harassment laws has led employers increasingly to take a “zero tolerance policy” toward questionable language, said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor and free speech expert.

“Profanity sometimes makes workplaces a harder place to work,” he said. “It can cause tensions. But there’s still a 1st Amendment.”

Volokh, as well as others interviewed, expressed amazement that Butler was not officially warned before the disciplinary process was begun.

Determining the acceptability of words, however, is a dangerous practice, Volokh noted.

“Free speech is precious,” he said. “Making it a fire-able offense to use curse words, I don’t know about that.”

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Brian Butler

BORN: San Jose, Sept. 29, 1946

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in economics, 1969; master’s in economics 1971; both from Fresno State.

EXPERIENCE: 1971-72, Fresno County social worker; 1972-77, financial analyst for city of Santa Rosa; 1977-83, assistant Glendale finance director; 1983-present, Glendale finance director.