Fundraiser started for FDNY chief fined for media leaks
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Mannix, a vocal critic of some FDNY diversity efforts, founded Merit Matters in 2009. He was fined 50 days' pay.
Some FDNY rank-and-file launched a GoFundMe page Friday for a chief fined 50 days’ pay for his role in a series of media leaks that targeted minority hires.
The page had about $10,000 of its $35,000 goal for Deputy Chief Paul Mannix by Saturday night.
Mannix, a vocal critic of some FDNY diversity efforts, founded Merit Matters in 2009. The group tasked itself with preserving what it saw as the best hiring standards.
The deputy chief was later implicated in a series of media leaks that targeted predominantly women and minority firefighters.
The page had about $10,000 of its $35,000 goal for Deputy Chief Paul Mannix by Saturday night.
Mannix’s lost wages equal around $30,000, sources told the News.
“This page is neither an endorsement nor admonishment of Deputy Chief Paul Mannix’s actions,” said the GoFundMe page. “It has been set up strictly to lessen the financial impact on the Mannix family.”
The creator urged donators to remain apolitical, but some supporters couldn’t help themselves.
In 2007, the Vulcan Society, a fraternal group of black firefighters, along with the Department of Justice, launched a controversial suit against the FDNY that charged its hiring practices discriminated against blacks and Latinos.
“I am appalled in respect to what happened to Chief Mannix. I am ashamed of what the city, state and nation has done to this great and noble profession,” wrote John Leonard, who donated $100 and described himself as a retired FDNY firefighter.
Mannix, for his part, posted on the Merit Matters blog Friday that he was voluntarily shutting the group down.
Individual firefighters were “caught in the crossfire” when their personal information was leaked to the press, he wrote.
In 2014, the city agreed to dole out $98 million in back pay and benefits to minority firefighter hopefuls.
He also vowed to “get the word out” that leaking personal information — including firefighters test scores, evaluations, and medical histories — was a serious offense.
In 2007, the Vulcan Society, a fraternal group of black firefighters, along with the Department of Justice, launched a controversial suit against the FDNY that charged its hiring practices discriminated against blacks and Latinos.
They won, and in 2014, the city agreed to dole out $98 million in back pay and benefits to minority firefighter hopefuls.
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