Ex-GM tries to shake down the City**
By Mary Cummins, Animal AdvocatesGuerdon Stuckey yesterday pleaded to get his job back in front of City Council. He was fired December 15 as an at-will manager of the City's troubled animal shelters. He said it just wasn't "fair" or "right." He thought he was doing a good job. When asked by Councilman Cardenas if the Mayor or commissioners ever gave him goals, objectives or said he wasn't performing, he said "no, never." Excuse me? Stuckey frequently complained that his work was never "good enough" for the commissioners. He also frequently admitted to making mistakes saying such things as "you feel I am incompetent," "Yes, I dropped the ball on that." He said these things on record.
More important than his job performance of course is the fact that he's an at-will employee. He stated yesterday that he thought he had job security. What part of "at-will" do you not understand, Mr. Stuckey? Stuckey openly stated in taped commission meetings "I know I can be fired. I can be fired at any time. The Mayor can fire me at 5 o'clock today." He is obviously just trying to shake down the City for an undeserved severance package as he had his lawyer with him.
His lawyer gave a Power Point presentation on what a wonderful job Stuckey did and why he thought he had job security. Stuckey took credit for things he had nothing to do with. I'm amazed he didn't say he invented the Internet. He also took loose media quotes from Villaraigosa and tried to show that the Mayor was signalling him that he had job security. We all know that written employment contracts take precedent over oral agreements, winks or ESP messages. He was stretching the quotes thin as a wire as it was.
Fortunately they did not vote to reinstate Stuckey yesterday. It is tabled. If they do not reinstate him by February 1, his appeal is automatically denied. The council has the power to overturn his firing but based on their responses, it seems that they will vote that the Mayor has the right to fire at-will employees for any or no reason. Heck, even if they did vote to reinstate him, Villaraigosa could just fire him again, and again... This is the first appeal of the firing of an at-will employee so it'll be interesting to watch. Stay tuned.
**Updates:
- Full text of letter opposing to the City Council Stuckey re-appointment by Mary Cummins of Animal Advocates at MS2.
- Full text of letter opposing to the City Council Stuckey re-appointment by animal advocate Brad Jensen at MS2.
- Dr. Charlotte Laws of the Valley Glen Neighborhood Council and the Directors of Animal Welfare reports that several of their members will meet Friday morning at Van Nuys City Hall to speak in opposition to the re-appointment via the new tele-conferencing system.
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 1/12/2006 02:12:00 PM
24 Comments:
Good riddance, Guerdon Stuckey. Don't let the kitty door hit ya where the good Lord split ya. On the surface he was a little better than the last GMs but that's not saying much. The last three GMs sucked for one reason or another. Knapp was good but he got sick and couldn't do his job. Thank God we now have Ed Boks with his years of experience turning around other similar larger shelters in large cities.
I watched the proceedings on TV. Mary Cummings is hot!
If they overturn his firing, that will open up a huge can of worms. Every atwill employee will request an appeal. It'll be worse than the damn DWP contract.
Come on people -- the Council will never overturn the firing. They will, however, come up with a sizable severance package for Stuckey within the next few weeks.
Stuckey doesn't want his job back. He used the employees and this proceeding just to try to get a severance package. In commission meetings he called the employees uneducated, said they just don't follow his orders. Behind doors he said his employees are the stupidest people he's ever met. It's embarassing to see the employees stand behind this guy who threw them under the bus any chance he got. He actually blamed his failures on the employees.
I hope they don't give him a severance package. Legally they don't have to give him a dime. He cost the City a lot of money with his mistakes. The spaymobile mistake was very costly, so was the Rescue Wagon. The City lost money because of him.
Anon 3:31
Agreed - this individual is trying to get the City to cough up a golden parachute. Too bad he doesn't have Toni Mohammad or Ali in his corner playing the race card. Stuckey was a magnet for everything wrong with that department and the Animal terrorists did their job well. AV hates controversy on his trip to Washington and he's not going to let a GM like Stuckey get in his way. Good luck to his successor.
Joe Friday
Badge 714
Did anyone else notice that Stucky lied in council yesterday about his wife? He said his wife never moved to LA for fear of the activists. He was quoted in many newspapers as stating that his wife was living here in LA with him. She was even here during the smoke bomb. She moved back to Maryland just recently. His quivering chin, emotional moment in council was just acting. That guy will obviusly lie about anything. I hope the council didn't buy it.
This letter to editor from City Beat today clearly shows that Stuckey did a poor job, did not follow orders from the Mayor or commissioners. How can he get up there and lie like that?
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3131&IssueNum=136
Let's face it Stuckey was not an issue until the animal terrorists showed up at Antonio's front door. Why did it take all these months for AV to start saying Stuckey wasn't a good employee even after he voted YES in council for him? Council members are too weak and have no guts to go against Antonio. Yup, if Stuckey were to play the race card like every other black who is on the front line things happen. Council members are going to ignore this and let the deadline be. There is absolutely NO leadership with this group of knuckle heads and they are terrified to go against the midget.
downtown news.com
Editorial
Council's Holiday Hustle Harms the LATC...Relatively few people noticed just a few weeks ago when the Los Angeles City Council gave a 20-year management contract for the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) to the Latino Theatre Company and the Latino Museum of History, Art & Culture. Unfortunately, it seems the move was, by design, a low-profile action three days before Christmas, one allowing the council to slip something by the public...To what extent did state Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, a supporter of the Latino groups, control the local decision? Was the council unduly swayed by the fact that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa himself has ties to the Latino Theatre Company? (Among other moves, Villaraigosa recently named Moctesuma Esparza, the chair of the board of the company, to the city's Employees' Retirement System Board of Commissioners.)
5:39 Antonio agreed to hire Stuckey when Stuckey had no track record. Stuckey had never had a similar job before. He had no animal experience. The head of the search committee Bernstein even said "ya, he has no track record. We'll just have to find out if he's the man for the job or not."
AFTER stuckey started failing, Antonio said he would fire him. This had nothing to do with terrorists threats. The terrorists were threatening animal services people and the last Mayor before Antonio was elected.
Hey does anyone know why CD14 offices in Boyle Heights was closed today. The message has a recording stating they were "CLOSED". As far as I know all council offices were open. You can call and listen to voice message 526-3059. Maybe Jose has them doing something else like Antonio did.
Stuckey should give the city a severance package.
Uncollected license revenue and penalties.....several thousand dollars.
Lost services due to a botched van contract....a million dollars.
Fostering hatred and resentment with his every word.......priceless.
PLAY THE RACE CARD STUCKEY!
PLAY THE RACE CARD!!!
(It worked for Bitter Bernie)
4:22 p.m. said "That guy will obviusly lie about anything. I hope the council didn't buy it."
Oh, sorry, I thought you were talking about "I wont' run for mayor" Antonio.
What better time to play the race card than MLK weekend, and going into Black History Month?
Just a suggestion Mr. Stuckey.
Stuckey was an at-will employee? He took THAT job, in THIS town without a written contract for at least a two-year term? LOL. I hereby revise my opinion about his odds of recovering from the city: he's not entitled to a dime. At-will is at-will. And Mary Cummins doesn't say this in her posting, because she's too modest, but she is, in fact, a saint. She personally saves all kinds of animals. She's even rescued orphaned baby squirrels! Anyway, here's hoping Boks will get the job done, sooner rather than later.
So, Walter, you're saying Mayor HAHN did a good thing in negotiating an at-will employment for this position. Unlike previous admins who had to wait out (or buyout) expensive managers...
And AV's legacy benefits from it.
Walter,
Thank you for the compliment
Yes, I am, and Mary, you're welcome!
"At will" firing and hiring of general managers is not the choice of Hahn or Villaraigosa. It is the choice of "the people" who voted it into the Charter.
How fucking arrogant of Mary Cummins to think she could get a city job with a resume as a grifter, identity thief, and cyber stalker. Guerdon Stuckey is laughing now. If Mary Cummins applies for work anywhere in the country "she'll" never get it if human resources goes to Google Groups and Googles "her" name or calls anyone in the animal community for a job reference. Have a great time sitting in front of your TV in your bikini, MMMary. You're going to be there for a while. Unemployed for a long, long time to come.
This Mary Cummins is what a prior poster considers hot????
http://laanimalpals.blogspot.com/2007/01/mary-cummins-of-animal-advocates-and.html
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