During the past few months an election cycle has taken place in the City of Methuen.

The Firefighters Union was determined to make sure their candidate wins. So they began attacking his opponent.

They started with the premise that “Big Lie” theory works.
They told a lie. Then they embellished it and began to believe it.

The lie was that Al Dinuccio had stated he would privatize the Methuen Fire Department Ambulance Service.
I searched and never found a reference in any speech that this statement was ever made.
[ed: if you find a link that shows this statement, I will publish it and retract this statement.]

UPDATE: 12/28/2011: This site, Double Talking Al, is no longer active on-line. The link does not work. Instead they have posted the videos on You Tube.
Here is the website the Firefighters Union created. Double Talking Al.

They could not even admit to owning it so they purchased private registration.
(This listing is a Network Solutions Private Registration when viewed on Whois site)
They also run the unofficial site: Methuen Fire department.com and the Methuen Fire.com

Here is the Methuen Fire Department official site.

They forgot to add a link to one of their articles, so I add it here. It is from a debate for the Massachusetts Congressional race, discussing State wide issues, not Methuen centric.

I read the site numerous times. I see that they want me to believe that they make $1.2 Million per year. My question becomes, If they make $1.2 million, why the $800,000 in overtime? Are you trying to tell us that your actual costs are $2 million in overtime? That smacks of mismanagement, methinks.

They also forgot to mention that Private Ambulance services are REQUIRED to post financial statements each year and that Municipal Ambulance Services are exempt from that requirement because the tax payer foots the bill and it is part of the budget process.

No one, that I know of, has made any derogatory remark about the level of service or training of the members of the Methuen Fire Service.

SECTION 2301, TITLE 5, UNITED STATES CODE
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§ 2301. Merit system principles

(b) Federal personnel management should be implemented consistent with the following merit system principles:

(1) Recruitment should be from qualified individuals from appropriate sources in an endeavor to achieve a work force from all segments of society, and selection and advancement should be determined solely on the basis of relative ability, knowledge and skills, after fair and open competition which assures that all receive equal opportunity.
(2) All employees and applicants for employment should receive fair and equitable treatment in all aspects of personnel management without regard to political affiliation, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, or handicapping condition, and with proper regard for their privacy and constitutional rights.
(3) Equal pay should be provided for work of equal value, with appropriate consideration of both national and local rates paid by employers in the private sector, and appropriate incentives and recognition should be provided for excellence in performance.
(4) All employees should maintain high standards of integrity, conduct, and concern for the public interest.
(5) The Federal work force should be used efficiently and effectively.
(6) Employees should be retained on the basis of adequacy of their performance, inadequate performance should be corrected, and employees should be separated who cannot or will not improve their performance to meet required standards.
(7) Employees should be provided effective education and training in cases in which such education and training would result in better organizational and individual performance.
(8) Employees should be–
  (A) protected against arbitrary action, personal favoritism, or coercion for partisan political purposes, and
  (B) prohibited from using their official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election or a nomination for election.
(9) Employees should be protected against reprisal for the lawful disclosure of information which the employees reasonably believe evidences–
  (A) a violation of any law, rule, or regulation, or
  (B) mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an absence of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.

  (c) In administering the provisions of this chapter–

    (1) with respect to any agency (as defined in section 2302(a)(2)(C) of this title), the President shall, pursuant to the authority otherwise available under this title, take any action including the issuance of rules, regulations, or directives; and
    (2) with respect to any entity in the executive branch which is not such an agency or part of such an agency, the head of such entity shall, pursuant to authority otherwise available, take any action, including the issuance of rules, regulations, or directives; which is consistent with the provisions of this title and which the President or the head, as the case may be, determines is necessary to ensure that personnel management is based on and embodies the merit system principles.

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In Massachusetts I found the following legal reference.
M.G.L. c. 31, §1 defines basic merit principles as follows:
“Basic merit principles”, shall mean
(a) recruiting, selecting and advancing o; employees on the basis of their relative ability, knowledge and skills including open consideration of qualified applicants for initial appointment;
(b) providing of equitable and adequate compensation for all employees;
(c) providing of training and development for employees, as needed, to assure the advancement and high quality performance of such employees;
(d) retaining of employees on the basis of adequacy of their performance, correcting inadequate performance, and separating employees whose inadequate performance cannot be corrected;
(e) assuring fair treatment of all applicants and employees in all aspects of personnel administration without regard to political affiliation, race, color, age, national origin, sex, marital status, handicap, or religion and with proper regard for privacy, basic rights outlined in this chapter and constitutional rights as citizens, and;
(f) assuring that all employees are protected against coercion for political purposes, and are protected from arbitrary and capricious actions.

That decision can be read in it’s entirety here.
The bottom line is the Old list-2006- will be reinstated. The City can select 15 candidates from that list.
COMMISSION ORDERS:1. HRD is to reactivate the 2006 eligible list of reserve firefighter candidates in the City of Methuen for the sole purpose of allowing the City to select 15 reserve firefighter candidates.

The city must create written transparent process for selection now and to be used in the future.
COMMISSION ORDERS:4. The City shall comply with all requirements of the civil service law and rules in making these selections. Further, prior to initiating the review of candidates, the City has agreed to notify all candidates regarding the details of the transparent review process that will be utilized.

The city must also provide written reasons why they either selected or did not select each candidate.
COMMISSION ORDERS:5. In regard to this selection process only, the City is required to notify HRD of the positive reasons for selecting all fifteen (15) candidates and the negative reasons for not selecting any of the other candidates willing to accept employment, but who are not selected.
COMMISSION ORDERS:6. HRD will determine if the reasons submitted are sound and sufficient reasons for not selecting any bypassed candidates.

I attended the Civil Service Commission hearing, held at City Hall in Methuen. I was struck by the fact that the Mayor did not walk downstairs to attend. Until I realized that all the questions which were asked at the hearing could have been answered by the Mayor, alone. He was not present so we could, nor should we conjecture as to his rational for each choice.

Let us hope that the City will finally document a fair and rational policy which they will share with the public and all applicants.
Let us get this mess behind us and move forward.

UPDATE: The Eagle Tribune has published an article about this issue. It can be seen here and includes Disqus posts.