Image of county firefighters up in smoke

For a short time, the Clark County Fire Department's image problems were little more than a Dumpster blaze. The intense heat and stink could have been extinguished easily.

But instead of responding to the flames with an engine, the firefighters and their union hosed down the hot spots with gasoline.

The result is a political inferno that has spread far beyond the county Government Center to the valley's other fire departments, to city halls and to Carson City amid a critical legislative session. The blaze will rage on through this spring's municipal elections. And it is burning the brotherhood of fellow unions, to say nothing of elected officials and beleaguered taxpayers.

It's one thing to stubbornly hang onto fat, contractually guaranteed pay raises in the middle of a monster recession, when private-sector workers are being laid off in droves and other bargaining groups are making concessions to save government jobs. For more than two years, county firefighters wouldn't give an inch on their wage growth.

It's entirely another thing, however, to use sick leave for vacations and conspire with fellow firefighters and supervisors to improperly pump up overtime, callback wages and pensions. County officials went public with the scheme after contentious negotiations for the firefighters' new contract resulted in an arbitrator siding against the union.

The betrayal of the public's trust was staggering. In 2009, more than 230 firefighters each called out sick for at least a month's worth of 24-hour shifts, but were healthy enough to pick up the shifts of peers who called in sick, allowing them to collect overtime. E-mails and "sick rosters" -- calendars showing sick calls scheduled months in advance -- provide compelling evidence of collusion.

The FBI and Las Vegas police are investigating. And on Tuesday, county commissioners debated whether to probe previous years for similar abuse.

This kind of culture doesn't just spring up from nowhere. A 2009 Review-Journal investigation found that schedules are routinely manipulated for county firefighters closing in on retirement to boost their final three years' pay and, as a result, inflate their pensions.

If only a decade's worth of sick-leave abuse took place, the bill for days off, overtime, callback and lifetimes of improper pension payments easily runs into the tens of millions of dollars.

The timing couldn't be worse for Clark County and employee unions in general because the Legislature will soon consider another big revenue grab from local governments, as well as major collective bargaining and pension reforms intended to derail the public-sector's runaway gravy train.

The Clark County Fire Department just provided advocates of all these measures with concrete examples of why they're needed. And firefighters certainly aren't helping Democrats make a case for massive tax increases.

The sick-leave abuse already is heating up Carson City, having come up during the Legislature's first week in session. Sen. Elizabeth Halseth, R-Las Vegas, blogged last week on what transpired during a joint Transportation Committee meeting.

Randy Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation, was explaining McCarran International Airport's 2010 expenses, which totaled $109 million. According to Halseth, Walker said personnel costs were high because McCarran provides all funding for the Clark County fire station at the airport.

"When it came to the question portion of the presentation," Halseth's blog reports, "Assemblyman Mark Sherwood (R-Henderson) asked if McCarran would be seeking reimbursement from the Clark County firefighters stationed at the airport who, according to a report presented last week by assistant county manager Ed Finger, were responsible for significant sick leave abuse.

"Before Mr. Walker could fully respond, Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson (D-North Las Vegas) and Senator Shirley Breeden (D-Henderson) tried to stop the question; stating it didn't pertain to the presentation and was inappropriate," the blog continues. "Assemblyman Sherwood pointed out it was, in fact, part of Mr. Walker's presentation and invited Assemblyman Atkinson and Sen. Breeden to follow along on 'page six.' Silence and a feeling of tension filled the room for a moment after the heated exchange. Mr. Walker began his answer again, stating he would not be seeking reimbursement."

The same day the blog was posted, Las Vegas media relations guru Mark Fierro sent out a news release touting that the North Las Vegas Fire Department has "the strictest sick leave policy in Southern Nevada."

"On average North Las Vegas firefighters take 4.3 days of sick leave per year," the release said, responding to a City Council inquiry. "Union leaders and City officials worked together to create the language that does not allow North Las Vegas Firefighters to be eligible for overtime if sick leave is used."

Translation: North Las Vegas firefighters are definitely not Clark County firefighters.

Just a few weeks before, Fierro was on retainer with the county firefighters union as well, doing badly needed rehabilitation work. He said he walked away from that job once the depth of the sick-leave abuse scandal was revealed.

"I didn't feel I was being heard," Fierro said last week.

It's never a good sign when your PR guy is willing to walk away from your money.

The fact is, no one's sympathetic to county firefighters anymore -- not even their firefighting peers. Local pundits who once defended county firefighters have turned on them and their hapless, tone-deaf union chief, Ryan Beaman. There is no spinning their collective, shameless greed.

The endorsements of firefighters unions, once coveted by politicians, are now a liability. The Las Vegas firefighters union won't issue an endorsement in the mayor's race before April's primary, according to President Dean Fletcher. If either of the candidates who advance to June's runoff actually want it, I'll be surprised. It's an attack mailer waiting to happen, even though city firefighters have made contract concessions.

In a race featuring two county commissioners (Larry Brown and Chris Giunchigliani) and a city councilman (Steve Ross), expect votes on firefighter contracts and previous firefighter endorsements to become a campaign issue. Advantage: Brown.

There's no putting out this fire anytime soon.

Glenn Cook (gcook@reviewjournal.com) is a Review-Journal editorial writer.