A Tale of Two (Fire) Commissioners

[GMCGeneral]

Now, before I get into the "meat and taters" of this thread, my disclaimer is this is NOT about race, although it is signifigent, but a local history lesson and my adoption of King's ideal that we judge a man by the content of their character and NOT by the color of their skin. Now, these are two Commissioners of the Buffalo Fire Department. The first one in the white turnout coat and hip boots was appointed by Mayor Frank A. Sedita Sr. and served in that capacity from 1966 to 1973. His name was Robert Howard Jr. and was well respected and liked not only among the rank and file, but the community as well. He was also Buffalo's first black Fire Commissioner. Many retired Buffalo Firefighters who served under Howard all say he was an outstanding Commissioner.
The other gentleman, Garnell Whitfield ,not so much. In fact most of the rank and file called him Garnell "Twitfield" for the simple reason that he only became commissioner after his predecessor, Mike Lombardo, was thrown under the bus because he (Lombardo), would not play politics. Basically a political brownnoser, he was never respected by the rank and file and when he did show up at fire scenes, they were mainly photo ops.
Just a quick observation and history lesson for ya. Oh BTW, Whitfield retired back in 2016.

 

[fncceo]

Fire Chiefs and Police Chiefs (regardless of ethnicity) in any large city are political appointees. In some cases, they are people with little or no experience in those jobs.

Those kind of appointees will often not mesh well with rank-and-file members because they will approach their jobs with very different priorities.

 

[GMCGeneral]

Fire Chiefs and Police Chiefs (regardless of ethnicity) in any large city are political appointees. In some cases, they are people with little or no experience in those jobs.

Those kind of appointees will often not mesh well with rank-and-file members because they will approach their jobs with very different priorities.

Correct. But there were/are commissioners who did very well by the rank and file. Usually those were the ones who were appointed from line officers. Howard was Captain of Engine 26 when he got tapped. Mike Lombardo was Captain of Rescue 1 and on his way to becoming a Battalion Chief when he was appointed by Mayor Byron Brown during Brown's first term.