Saturday, February 25, 2012

Controversy-plagued former Orland Fire Chief hands out fliers filled with lies at congressional debates

Bookmark and Share

Controversy-plagued former Orland Fire Protection District Fire Chief Bryant Krizik was seen distributing fliers attacking OFPD President Jim Hickey, who is a candidate for the 11th Congressional District, at the Naperville congressional debate's Friday night.

Krizik must really hate Hickey, who saw him with the fliers.

One of the complaints on the flier attacked Hickey falsely claiming he "hired two PR firms" for a TOTAL cost of $4,100 per month.

It's a lie, of course. Here's the truth.

When Krizik was the OFPD Fire Chief, the Board hired one of those firms BEFORE Hickey took over as the board president. The cost was $1,000 per month and that hasn't changed. 

Krizik's board had a second firm working for the OFPD being paid $4,000 per month. That means that Krizik had two firms working for him at $5,000 a month, $900 more than the two working for Hickey's board. (That was not mentioned on the flier, of course because it might make Krizik look like an idiot, or suggest he is also bad at math!)

(Hickey hired me at $3,000 a month in May 2010 after Krizik was put on suspension, SAVING the taxpayers $12,000 a year in costs as a part of Hickey's commitment to cut spending at the OFPD because I agreed to take a monthly media retainer that was $1,000 less than the one given to Krizik's board's PR company.)

So, let's put Krizik's disgruntled lie into perspective. Krizik spent $5,000 on two PR firms. Hickey inherited one and hired a second firm at a savings to taxpayers to replace Krizik's more expensive one. Hickey SAVED the taxpayers of the OFPD $12,000 a year on media work.

What does that say about Krizik? Hickey saved the taxpayers money while Krizik's board is the one that spent more while he was fire chief. No complaining about spending back then from Krizik!

In reality, Krizik's board paid a lot more for PR work when he was OFPD Fire Chief than Hickey did when Krizik was removed.

By the way, the former OFPD PR contractor was the contact who helped Krizik respond to media inquiries about Krizik's troubles. Clearly they were very close.

Krizik was being helped at the debate by disgruntled former employees of the OFPD district, including several of the former members of the Senior Advisory Commission. One is related to Krizik which reflects on her partisanship and explains the real motivation for her outrage -- it had nothing to do with saving the taxpayer's money, which is the commitment of the new OFPD board.

The flier's lies reflect more on Krizik than on Hickey.

Remember Krizik? Just search "Bryant Krizik" on Google News to find out about the controversy. It was an embarrassment for the OFPD.

Here's a story from Fox News. Click here.

Here's one from the Chicago Tribune. Click here.

There are dozens more.

Krizik responded by pointing fingers at other OFPD firefighters. The it-was-their-fault-strategy says something about lack of leadership.

Hickey has no problem having Krizik as a critic, especially if the only complaints against Hickey are lies.

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

No comments:

Post a Comment