Quincy’s most recent Fire Department Firefighter hires are all Disabled Veterans

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– News about Quincy Massachusetts from Quincy Quarry News with commentary added

Moi?
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Quincy Quarry’s ever-growing legions of loyal readers know that the City of Quincy during the reign of the Koch Maladministration has been fraught with controversy over its hiring machinations, among other controversies, and especially so with supposed to be civil service regulations compliant first responder hirings and promotions.

• A Quincy Quarry News Exclusive Special Investigation

For example, at least five hires into the ranks of the Quincy Police Department reeked of improper favoritism accorded to Koch Machine family members and various other connected individuals. 

All of these known arguably curious hires were subjected to related reviews by state oversight agencies with at least two such reviews resulting in adverse rulings by the Commonwealth’s Civil Service Commission over the city’s bypassing of qualified applicants so as be able to instead go deep down the list to hire connected applicants.

One of the two controversial incidents which were the subject of published reports by the Civil Service Commission found that Quincy had improperly passed over veterans higher on the list such that Quincy Police Department Chief Paul, the Beav, Keenan’s lower on the list son was so hired instead. 

Mayoral brother in law Quincy Police Chief Paul “The Beav” Keenan
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The chief’s son is also one of Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch’s nephews as the chief and the mayor are brothers-in-law.

Then the second subsequent Civil Service review found that that the older of Mayor Koch’s two sons, who in turn is one of Chief Keenan’s nephews, was also improperly hired. 

Problems included that the review panel for this round of reviewing candidates included the improperly hired police officer cousin of the mayor’s son and thus what one can only reasonably assume is probably at least a conflict of interest, if not also arguably incestuous nepotism.

In short, both of these family hires were arguably “finessed” via the improper bypassings of higher-ranked applicants and thus Civil Service ordered that the so-bypassed applicants be placed at the top of the list for the next round of hiring as well as accorded with the same seniority as if they had been hired when they should have been hired.

Unfortunately, such a course of sanctioning is about the most of the little that Civil Service could impose over such troubling hiring practices.

Accordingly, it was thus only reasonable for Quincy Quarry to look into the most recent class of hires of probationary firefighters by the Quincy Fire Department, especially as the other of Quincy Mayor Thomas P. Koch’s two sons was among those recently hired by the fire department.

In this more recent instance of a family member hiring to a first responder City of Quincy job, Mayor Koch’s son was ranked sixteenth on Quincy’s Civil Service list and sixteen were hired.

Such baited obvious questions; however, upon further review, no obvious problems were uncovered by the Quarry. 

Then again, much of the hiring documents and such are not readily available for an independent review.

At the same time, others further down the list and who were tied with the mayor’s bottom of the heap Civil Service ranking among those hired were all also hired.

In instances where applicants have identical rankings, hiring is made alphabetically and surely but coincidentally all of those tied with the mayor’s son were hired as various higher-ranked applicants passed on taking a job offer.

Surely coincidences notwithstanding, for obvious good reasons Quarry reached out to its sources both high but mostly low. 

In this instance, however, the Quarry found that the consensus was that for a change those higher on the list but not hired had already taken jobs elsewhere, declined a hiring offer for other reasons, or otherwise did not pass further job application screening requirements.

In short, so far nothing to see here, especially as regards the hiring of the mayor’s bottom-ranked son.

There was, however, something that caught Quincy Quarry’s eye: all of those hired in the most recent rookie class of prospective firefighters were noted as disabled veterans on the Civil Service list.

Quincy Quarry has no problems with providing enhanced consideration for veterans seeking a civil service jobs, especially when military experience is applicable experience for the civil service job sought.

The Quarry also endorses enhanced consideration of the disabled, especially those who were disabled while serving in the military.

At the same time, it is only reasonable to have at least some concerns about hiring disabled applicants for high physical demands jobs such as firefighting.

Further, given privacy concerns, it is all but impossible for the public to know what are the disabilities of those hired and so duly ponder obvious concerns as regards these individuals’ physical fitness for what at times is a physically-challenging job..

Additionally, there is the potential for disabled hires hired into such physically jobs such as firefighting to become further disabled on these jobs such that they end up going out on full disability before to long before they might be eligible to retire.  Such poses obvious concerns for taxpayers who would so end up having to cover additional disability benefits for those unable to work at their jobs as well as the extra as well as not inconsiderable expense of filling their positions with replacements.

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Quincy Quarry’s City Editor thus reached to the Quarry’s Military and Other Affairs’ editor for input and so received an earful.

Specially, the City Editor was advised by its Military and other Affairs desk editor that there is a military-legal complex of enablers who solicit veterans who are then coached to ability for veteran benefits.

Granted, there are veterans who warrant disability benefits as a result of suffering impairments while in uniform but have faced problems going through the process to secure disability benefits; however, there are others who are coached by enablers on how to apply for disabilities benefits on claims that entail impairment(s) which are difficult to independently confirm.

For but one hypothetical example, claims of tinnitus combined with chronic headaches are difficult to refute via independent medical testing.

In turn, once (suspectly, ed.) approved for disability benefits, a goodly number of former military personal end up moving to low cost of living countries to retire young as well as live comfortably on their disability benefits which are typically also sufficient for them to be able to afford to continue to hit “Gentlemen’s clubs” and other adult recreational activities as many did while they were on active duty.

Accordingly, the AJ squared away ex-marine and now editor of the Quarry’s Military and Other Affairs finds this sort of disability benefits grifting to be an abhorrent disgrace to the uniform as well as he can can only further assume that at least some of these veterans are also working disability claims so as to both score civil service jobs as well as enjoy disability benefits in one what could thus view as a manner of at least dubious doubling dipping.

After all, it is not as if double dipping is not unknown about the ranks of City of Quincy first responders.

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