Cliffview Pilot

A former captain of North Hudson Regional Fire & Rescue is using "false charges, phony statistics and deliberate misinformation" to try and degrade a department that is thriving despite severe obstacles, its chief said.

An angered Fire Chief Brion McEldowney told CLIFFVIEW PILOT a letter by a "disgruntled" Steve Winters "carries many false statements and does a great disservice to our fire department....Claims about lay-offs, firehouse closures, legal costs and public relations fees are all completely wrong."

He also noted that Winters was "fired in 2007 for cheating taxpayers."

Comments (7)

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FormerFighter said:

... WOW! Now the politicians are showing how much control they truly have over the NHRFR "Puppet Regime". Making the chief make a public statement since their words fall on deaf ears due to their uninhibited lies and falsehoods. If Mr. Winters's statistics are "phony" then disprove them with actual statistics so this whole thing can be put to rest once and for all! And if salaries are the problem then once again get ALL those fire fighters, captains, battallion chiefs and deputy chiefs out of the office and back on the line and let your secretaries do their jobs! Mr. Winters's may have had other jobs and broken the law by working for those jobs on a sick day and he got what he deserved BUT why have ALL the other cases against other fire fighters and captains and deputy chiefs (DC Avillo) been swept under the rug? Where have they gone? And, most of the firemen I know do have integrity but DO NOT be so bold as to single out one when you have others who have committed much worse offenses, such as exposing himself in front of a grammar school(NB fire fighter), purchasing crack from an undercover Union City cop(NB fire fighter), illegally entering the apartment of a tenant and rummaging through her underwear drawer(WNY fire fighter), having a captain declared mentally unfit to lead men then promoting him to battallion chief(Weehawken), not to mention again your 2 directors and now disgraced former "Director of Apparatus". So please Chief, save face and keep your remaining dignity by not allowing the political powerhouse of NHRFR pull your strings, they've been pulling our legs for long enough!

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January 28, 2010
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Bill Brennan said:

Perjurer in Chief! McEldowney knows quite a bit about false charges, phony statistics and deliberate misinformation. I watched him commit perjury for 3 days at Captain Winters' hearings before the OAL. I also testified at the OAL in one of the hearings on charges brought against Steve. Every single disputed fact at that hearing was decided in Steve's favor - McEldowney proved nothing. Winters was demoted because he gave me a report he had written years earlier that detailed the sexually deviant misconduct of Charles Severino. I was representing a firefighter who complained about Severino and was retaliated against over those objections. The facts found at the hearing touted by Chief Perjury all went Steve's way, HE NEVER DENIED GIVING ME THAT REPORT! Steve denied fabricating the report and the Judge dismissed the charge because he didn't believe McEldowney. Steve insisted that he gave his report to the perjurer's secretary and the the Judge dismissed the charge accusing Steve of lying about turnuing the report in - again the Judge did not believe Chief Perjurer. The judge also dismissed a charge alleging that Steve failed to followup on his report regarding Severino's deviance. McEldowney knows that Severino (disgraced Battlion Chief now retired) grabbed the genitals of his subordinates, forced his tongue into their mouths, dry humped the men under his command and frequently demanded fellatio - knowing all that he called Captain Winter a liar and fired him in retaliation for saying such things.

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January 28, 2010
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steven winters said:

Journey to the truth - part 1 NHRFR Chief Brion McEldowney makes sensational assertions, but they are self-serving and simply not true. However, costs for the public relations firm was in error and was actually just under $300,000.00 (not $3,000,000.00). I apologize for the error. All of the numbers were obtained from official NHRFR Expenditure Approval Reports. These are public documents that can be obtained by submitting a public records request with the NHRFR. The chief cites decisions by the administrative court that are currently in the state appeals court and have not been fully litigated. My civil lawsuit filed against Defendants Brion McEldowney, Michael DeOrio, Jeffery Welz and the NHRFR, who recently lost their bid to have my suit dismissed, is currently set for trial in April. It is unfortunate that some prefer to retaliate against firefighters for speaking publicly on matters that directly affect the safety and well-being of the taxpayers. NHRFR Officials have gone to great lengths to publicly defame me. They once called a press conference to destroy the credibility of me and one other firefighter for reporting a battalion chief engaging in sexually deviant behavior. While they immediately protected the battalion chief, they publicly slandered the only 2 firefighters that had the courage and conviction to come forward and report it. The chief vehemently denied ever receiving a written report from me a year and a half earlier disclosing this battalion chief’s behavior. But a judge later ruled that Chief McEldowney did in fact receive that report. So who’s the liar? While utterly ignoring a respected CBS 2 News investigative reporter who told the NHRFR that she had four additional sources confirming that this battalion chief was sexually harassing other members of the department Chief McEldowney and his public relations firm Paul Swibinski continued to defend the battalion chief while essentially calling everyone else liars. When they were finished with their press conference, and before any inquiry was even done, they promised a full and fair investigation into the allegation. While the chief extolled the battalion chief and defamed the “whistleblowers”, nobody else had the courage to step forward to tell the truth. But we now know through testimony that the NHRFR actually received reports of sexually bizarre behavior by this battalion chief around 1999. But Director DeOrio, who happens to be a close friend of the accused, decided not to investigate. In fact, several others came forward during depositions to confirm this sexually deviant behavior, including a high ranking chief officer in the department. I was demoted for releasing a report for use in a confidential hearing for a firefighter that was making a claim that the very same battalion chief I had reported a year and a half earlier has been sexually harassing him. Evidence shows that shortly after NHRFR’s press conference, my report (for which I was demoted for releasing) was attached to a petition in support of the battalion chief and distributed throughout all the public firehouses for signatures by numerous chief officers, captains, and firefighters while in uniform using official fire department vehicles. Not one individual was ever charged or demoted for that. But while asserting that no such sexually deviant behavior ever existed, a Judge found that Chief McEldowney did in fact receive my report prior to the press conference. So the chief did know that it existed. Steven Winters

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January 28, 2010
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steven winters said:

A journey to the truth – part 2 A firefighter working a second job on his/her off-duty days is legal and permitted by NHRFR rules. Many others and I openly worked on non-duty days. The Chief knows this as does all the firefighters. Firefighters do not get paid for off-duty days nor does the NHRFR control what a person does on that day. The statement that I “secretly worked” sounds profound, but Chief McEldowney knows it’s false. He actually testified in his deposition that he knew I was working long before I was terminated, a fact he concealed in the OAL, only to let it slip in a pretrial conference in my law suit. I believe concealing evidence is second degree official misconduct. The OAL Judge hearing the termination appeal relied on Chief McEldowney’s false testimony and summarily dismissed the case without me ever having the opportunity to put on a defense. Had Chief McEldowney testified truthfully, NHRFR’s case would have been tossed, and they knew that. So while the NHRFR retaliates against a whistleblower with bogus charges, they ignore the fact that numerous other firefighters have been working on there off duty days while on sick leave. A significant amount of evidence has been accumulated that shows the NHRFR also disregarded other firemen that worked at their second job while they were supposed to be on duty at the NHRFR, including Deputy Chief Anthony Avillo, who collected a pay check for working for the Bergen County Fire Academy while at the same time logging on duty at the NHRFR. So why hasn’t the NHRFR taken any action against these “double dippers”? Those too, after all, are crimes. One Captain, working longer than I on his off-duty days, wasn’t fired. He was permitted to go on and collect his full salary for a year only to recently be approved by the NHRFR to retire. Even Directors DeOrio and Welz get paid to work for North Bergen and Weehawken, respectively, while they also get paid from the NHRFR. So who are we really kidding? The “cheating taxpayers” comment is simply sensationalizing. Sick leave pay comes from a cash bank built up by the firefighter over many years. My sick leave came from that cash bank, and the chief knows it. It is money that belongs to the firefighter and is paid to him/her at retirement if not used. When a firefighter is on sick leave his salary is deducted from that bank. The chief’s remark that the administrative court upheld NHRFR’s fabricated and pretextual charges is of no consequence. This same agency ruled against me twice in my Battalion Chief’s promotional exam appeal when they changed one of my right answers (as determined by their own experts) to a wrong answer. I appealed it to the NJ Appellate Court, where the judges reversed the Commission’s decision, ruling what they did was arbitrary, capricious and unfair. Steven Winters

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January 28, 2010
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steven winters said:

Journey to the truth – part 3 I am sure the chief is under tremendous pressure. It’s never an easy position to be in. But the NHRFR is in shambles and there is evidence that suggests that fire department officials have engaged in criminal conduct and pension fraud. While firehouses are being closed, apparatus being placed out of service, and manpower being drastically reduced, the NHRFR finds there way clear to spend obscene amounts of money on legal fees, public relation costs, and salaries for political appointees. So fire department officials need to start looking within for a reality check and start managing their own skeletons. And while it appears that the Mayors of the 5 municipalities that are served by the NHRFR idly sit by and allow the current leadership to drag the NHRFR into the abyss, the taxpayers are unaware of what’s going on with their tax money and will certainly be shocked at the behavior of these officers. You don’t provide leadership to the community by attacking, defaming, demoralizing, demoting and firing anyone who publicly discloses information that affects the safety and welfare of the public. While always respectful in my handling of these matters, NHRFR officials engage in an aggressive and hostile campaign of personal attacks and false charges. Only after they ignored my reporting within their own hierarchy was I forced to go public with matters I believed were of public concern. The Chief’s response contains a lot of anger and serves as an effective example of what happens when a firefighter comes forward with something that the NHRFR doesn’t want anyone to know about. Look at what happened after the firefighter’s union president came out and denounced the rotating closings of fire stations. Immediately the NHRFR revoked shopping privileges and threatened to reconfigure the vacation structure. The NHRFR could be a great organization. There are a lot of smart, dedicated people that work there. But the current leadership has taken the fire department in a direction that falls far short of the original expectations for the NHRFR. While costs have skyrocketed, fire protection has dwindled and employee morale has been destroyed. The firefighter’s union recent press release is a clear indication of that. The NHRFR needs new leadership at the top and needs to focus on listening to firemen’s concerns and harnessing them for the good of the people rather than attacking them and destroying their credibility. I look forward to having my arguments heard in front of a jury and having the opportunity to publicly disclose all the evidence that proves the NHRFR’s fabrication of charges, falsifying of public documents, withholding of evidence, perjury, official misconduct, interfering with a state investigation, and much more. Perhaps the Mayors of Union City, West New York and Guttenburg need to ban together and demand an investigation into their own fire department - because at trail, the taxpayers certainly will. Steven Winters

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January 28, 2010
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FormerFighter said:

... Because Mr. Winters is no longer a member of the fire department it is much easier for him to come forward with his identity and because he was fired it is much easier for the fire department to call his statements "disgruntled". Here is why, as an active member of the NHRFR I cannot speak with my real name as shown with Mr. Winters the repercussions are great. Mr. Winters makes valid points and the NHRFR just says he's lying without proving otherwise. How about the answering why there are so many men and so much money sitting in headquarters doing nothing? Who's paying their salaries?

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January 28, 2010
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FormerFighter said:

... All that can be said is "PUPPET REGIME". 2 minutes and 30 seconds worth of water pumping at a minimum 500 gallons per minute equates to 1,250 gallons of water BEFORE the next engine company arrived! Then they'd have to stretch lines and force entry instead of arriving and establishing a water supply for the first due engine! tick tock tick tock. The fire is building within the residence, the heat is rising, the smoke is billowing and the exposures are being threatened. Now the fire has spread dramatically from its starting point, burning away vital supports and moving through any opening without resistence all because there was no water on it for God knows how long. If it took E-11 3 minutes to "call on scene" they still have to assess the building, stretch lines, force entry, and perform anything else necessary to gain entry. All this could add another 1 - 2 minutes, now we're at 5 minutes. And the Chief needs to clarify one statement, did the first ENGINE arrive in 3 minutes or the first COMPANY? There's a big difference! If the first company is a chief then that's useless, they drive Explorers. When did the first ENGINE arrive on scene, they provide the water?

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January 30, 2010
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