Fire Chief Bleskachek Steps Down

After a year of lawsuits and civil rights complaints against her, Minneapolis Fire Chief Bonnie Bleskachek was demoted by the Minneapolis City Council on Friday in a vote of 8-5. Bleskachek was named Fire Chief in 2004, and became the first woman fire chief in Minneapolis and the first openly lesbian fire chief of a major city.

Mayor RT Rybak, who appointed Bleskachek, released a public statement Friday afternoon:

For the past few months there has been a controversy surrounding our fire chief. Not all the speculation is correct. However as you will learn, Bonnie Bleskachek showed exceptionally poor judgment. Her actions were irresponsible and they jeopardized the reputation of the city and the department she led. She should be severely punished.

City investigators substantiated many of the allegations against Bleskachek and found a pattern of poor judgement that included hot-tubbing nude at a private party with subordinates on three occasions, making out with a subordinate in the station work out room, a history of dating and romantic relationships with subordinates, and favoritism within the department. A report of the investigations' findings can be read at the Minneapolis City Council website (PDF).

The charged issue of sexual orientation was very present in this case. According to Doug Grow at the Star Tribune, Council Member Don Samuels "suggested that the city might need to devise new rules of behavior surrounding gay and lesbian people," to which Council Member Ralph Remington responded: "Lesbianism has nothing to do with the egregious behavior in this case." Samuels comment may have been a poorly worded attempt to spotlight that city policies may be lacking when it comes to sexual orientation and misuse of power. As Mayor Rybak said in his press release: "What has happened is wrong, it is regrettable and we will fix it so that this never happens again. From this process, we now know that we have holes in our city policies and we’re going to fill them." But her sexual orientation didn't necessarily win her votes on the council either, as openly gay Council Member Robert Lilligren was among those who called for her firing instead of demotion.

Bleskachek, and her lawyer, Jerry Burg, complained that much of the controversy stems from homophobia: “Being an out lesbian, which the mayor really wanted to push, the first openly lesbian fire chief, made me an easy target,” Bleskachek told the New York Times earlier this month. "I've worked too hard for years," she said. "If I'm such a terrible manager, if I'm such a bad leader, where are the red flags in my past? The only thing I can come up with is that this is a whole lot of homophobia and sexism."

She will receive no severance pay, and will not have supervisory power in the department. She was also asked for a formal appology to the citizens of Minneapolis. The Star Tribune obtained the letter:

"I am deeply sorry that the allegations about me have damaged the city and caused disruptions to the fire department and I apologize for that," Bleskachek wrote. "... I am sorry that I reflected negatively on the fire department and the city of Minneapolis."