Greenwood fire officials face election complaint

"The immediate thing I felt was that we’re all here as employees to go over fire department business. Why were they telling us who we should be voting for?””

Firefighter Jeff Maus

GREENWOOD TWP— The fire chief and assistant fire chief here are facing official complaints over allegations they may have violated a state law that prohibits public employees and officials from using their authority to pressure or compel others to engage in political activity.

On March 2, with a hotly contested township election just one week away, the Greenwood Fire Department’s top two officers used a fire department business meeting to weigh in on one side of the political fued that has consumed the township for the past several years. Fire chief David Fazio, who was not present at the meeting, had provided an agenda for assistant chief Mike Indihar, who actually presided at the fire department gathering. Firefighters in Greenwood are township employees and are paid to attend business meetings, like the one held March 2.

While the meeting mostly focused on fire department business, Indihar, reading from the agenda provided by Fazio, brought up the pending election and Fazio’s solicitation of support from firefighters for political advertising in support of the four incumbent candidates, including Fazio’s wife, who is running for town treasurer.

“The last thing he’s got on there [the agenda], Dave’s looking at putting a recognition of our township supervisors in the Tower News and the free flyer that goes out all over,” said Indihar. “I think he’s contacted pretty much everyone he wants to be on there, basically that a group of us believe in Larry Tahija and Byron Beihoffer and Debbie [Spicer] and Belinda [Fazio] as really supporting us and the community.”

Indihar went on to disparage the candidates challenging the incumbents, claiming, without evidence, that they wish to disband the township fire department and hand it, plus township tax dollars, over to Tower. Indihar added that he believes the challengers don’t understand or care about the township or its residents.

Firefighter Jeff Maus, who has been a frequent critic of department leadership, was recording the meeting as he has done ever since he was subject to retaliation for filing a whistleblower complaint to OSHA. The township was required to pay a settlement to Maus after state investigators found that the fire department had eliminated Maus’s position as a captain in the department as payback for his referral of safety concerns to OSHA.

At the March 2 meeting, Maus said he believed immediately that Indihar’s words and the actions by Chief Fazio that Indihar described were improper. “The immediate thing I felt was that we’re all here as employees to go over fire department business,” Maus said. “Why were they telling us who we should be voting for?”

Minn. Stat. 211B.09 prohibits public employees or officials from using their official authority or influence to compel others to, among other things, “pay or promise to pay a political contribution, or to take part in political activity.” By asking firefighters under their supervision and authority, to add their names to political advertising supporting specific candidates, including Fazio’s wife, Fazio and possibly Indihar may have run afoul of the law.

The Timberjay has provided both Indihar and Fazio, as well as town board chair Mike Ralston, an opportunity to explain their actions or comment on the incident, but none had responded as of this writing. 

One of the questions stemming from the incident is who paid for the ads that were published in local media, since the ads did not include the required disclaimer. That failure, by itself, is a misdemeanor, and is likely to be part of the complaint, or complaints, at least one of which was filed electronically with the Office of Administrative Hearings on Sunday, two days before the township election. If Fazio solicited funds for the ad from firefighters under his authority, it could add additional grist for a complaint.

Among those who has already filed a complaint is Joann Bassing, who is challenging Spicer for the town clerk position. Bassing said the pressure that firefighters would face to comply with Fazio’s request is obvious. “When you have someone in an organization that is higher up than you it puts pressure on you to be supportive of them,” she said.

Maus said anyone on the Greenwood department understands the risks associated with bucking those in authority. “They’ve been shown through example, that if you don’t stay in lock step, you’ll be shunned,” he said. Maus said few in the department will even speak to him in the aftermath of his complaint, and some have even urged him to quit the department, something he has refused to do. In his earlier case, state investigators found that Maus had been subject to retaliation by the fire department and that he was entitled to legal protections.

Bassing said it’s clear that the actions of Fazio and Indihar were wrong. “I felt it was unethical for sure, very possibly illegal,” she said. “They were being paid by the township and essentially held a political rally. It’s a job I’m seeking and they gave unfair advantage to my opponent.”