Letters: It’s called nepotism

Re “Two L.A. fire commanders reassigned,” March 1

City Councilman Paul Koretz’s statement that he wasn’t troubled by the fact that 24% of recent new candidates at the city’s Fire Department had relatives in the officer corps could get the city sued, and cost the taxpayers money.

If the 60-second cutoff time frame for applicants to submit a key piece of paperwork wasn’t public knowledge, then it’s not a statistical anomaly that those with relatives inside the department were the ones selected.

It’s called nepotism, and the city could be sued for it.

W. James Osborne

Sherman Oaks

The writer is an attorney.

The Times has been providing extensive coverage of problems at the Fire Department. Unfortunately, the unproven implication is that the officers who were reassigned unfairly got members access to highly coveted jobs in the department.

In fact, there is no hard evidence that anything improper occurred.

The idea that family members would be attracted to a desirable career is certainly not unheard of. This is especially true for politics; think of the Adams family, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, the Bushes, the Browns and the Garcettis.

It is difficult to imagine a career sector in which at least some family members are not influenced to follow in the footsteps of their elders.

Unless there is real evidence that these officers unfairly influenced the selection of their family members or that those who were selected were in fact unqualified, it’s unfair to taint the careers of these individuals.

John Hisserich

Los Angeles

Your front-page article on the Fire Department included this information about the salary for firefighters in our city:

“Last year, thousands of people applied for 70 coveted LAFD firefighting jobs, which pay an average of $143,000 a year in salary and overtime.”

It’s beyond shameful that our already underpaid Los Angeles Police Department officers do not receive payment for overtime work; instead, they receive time off.

The City Council (whose members are among the highest paid in the nation) should make the fair compensation of our city’s brave police officers a priority and correct this injustice immediately. I hope The Times’ editorial board will agree with me.

Jo Perry

Studio City

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