Kimmmm--BERRRRRR!: Why the mayor needs to ax the Rev.

by Paul Bass - June 13, 2002

Wanted: A black person.

Job: Do the mayor's dirty work in the fire department.

Qualifications: Must live in New Haven. Vote-gathering ability a plus. Non-felon preferred.  

When New Haven's mayor, John DeStefano, needed a black guy to try to straighten out the fire department, he found someone who fit most of the above job description. He found the Rev. Boise Kimber, a longtime political backer. He named Kimber earlier this year to chair the city's fire commission, which oversees the troubled department of hooks and ladders. Kimber's mission: Shake up the department ... without causing any new racial bloodbaths by pitting the white mayor against a black chief.

Kimber hasshaken things up--and stirred clouds of racial dust.

Kimber's latest controversy--he joked that some new recruits have "too many vowels" in their names--left people wondering: Why does the mayor, after clearing outdated styles from his patronage closet, hold on to this political tie, which invariably chokes him?

Firefighters have rallied for Kimber's resignation. "There's no room in public service for officials acting in official capacity making bigoted statements," says battalion chief Vincent Landisio, of the department's Italian-American Society.

Some black leaders support Kimber. They don't want the mayor to sacrifice a prominent black figure in a historically racist department.

DeStefano has waited to see how the Kimber controversy plays out before reacting. His administration is conducting an investigation. He has met at his home with angry firefighters. He enlisted respected white and black civic figures to head a group seeking understanding in meetings with different factions.

Contrast DeStefano's waiting game with Gov. John Rowland's response last week to a remark by an aide, New Haven's Nancy Ahern. Ahern was quoted blaming the AIDS crisis on predatory "minority" males and gays who deliberately spread the disease. Ahern became Rowland's "former" aide before the news cycle's first deadline.

DeStefano says the controversy is about more than just Kimber's "intolerant statement." He says it's about how we react to it. "How does a community make a thoughtful judgment?"

Simply pushing Kimber to leave his post would produce "winners" and "losers" in a game that pits ethnic groups against each other, he argues. That won't dampen ethnic tensions in the fire department or in New Haven. It feeds the flames.

Better to engage everybody in a broader discussion, take some time to reflect, and "not have it go to places where past angers and hurts get exercised," DeStefano says.

Plus, everyone deserves a second chance. Most of us have made remarks like Kimber's. Unlike, say, West Haven's embattled former police chief, Kimber had the sense to apologize promptly.  

But third chances? Fourth chances? Tenth chances?
At this point, if Kimber doesn't resign to save his mayoral patron, DeStefano should force the issue.

He shouldn't have appointed Kimber in the first place. Too much baggage. Department members who dislike commissioners' disclipinary actions can point out that Kimber is a convicted felon: He stole an elderly woman's burial money while helping a jailed friend run a funeral home. Again, one mistake shouldn't brand him--but Kimber has been involved in at least three other financial scandals, two of them involving government money, in his career as white Democratic mayors' black plantation sub-boss. (See the "City for Sale" archive in the news section of our Web site, www.newhavenadvocate.com.)

Nor was his "too many vowels" comment out of character. He's known around city firehouses for making disparaging comments. In the style of his mentor, the Rev. Al Sharpton, he plays the race card in public--while privately sucking up to powerful whites who can give him money or influence (City Hall, the Register, Yale-New Haven Hospital). In front of TV cameras, he threatened a race riot during the murder trial of the black man arrested for killing white Yalie Christian Prince. He continues to call whites racist if they question his actions.

Kimber bullies those under him. Newly appointed commissioner, he woke up firefighters in the middle of the night, pulling an alarm, to show them who the new boss is.

DeStefano has made great strides the past few years in shedding patronage baggage. He cut ties to a host of politicos who helped elect him in return for expected favors at public expense. It has made him a better mayor. It has brightened his political future. It has made New Haven a better city.

It's commendable that he shows loyalty to his friend Kimber. Kimber can be a charming, open person.

But true friendship doesn't depend on continuous favors. DeStefano has a city to run. Surely, among New Haven's 120,000 citizens, he can find another black person to fill his job description.

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