City Councilman Charles Samuels is fighting back after a claim made by his opponent, Charlie Diradour during the Fan District Association Debate on Wednesday.
During a heated exchange on the budget for the city police department, Diradour made the following claim.
“The top brass, the Chief and Deputy Chiefs all got pay raises, 5% pay raises, and yet the rank and file police officers did not, that's unfair,” he said. “That was in the budget, was it not? Did you not see that in the budget?"
Diardour’s comment can be found at 5:35 of Part 2 of our coverage of the Fan District Association 2nd District City Council debate.
Samuels said he did not see it in the budget and today reiterated that point. He believes that Diradour got his facts wrong.
“He was wrong on the numbers,” he said. “(He was) wrong to suggest he saw this in the budget, and was wrong to spread incorrect information without fact-checking that could impact police morale.”
Diradour admits he does not have a specific budget line to point to that would back up his claim, but he believes that top administration officials were given raises the rank and file were not.
“I’ve been told by several sources that the director of Human Resources, Antoinette Archer received a 5% pay raise last year,” Diradour said, “But why are we talking about who did get pay raises instead of who didn’t get pay raises?”
According to Ms. Archer's LinkedIn page, she is no longer employed by the City of Richmond Police Department.
Diradour believes Samuels has not done enough to stand up for the rank and file officer, who have not received raises in several years.
“A City Councilman should be more concerned about the men and women who are on the line everyday who are protecting us,” he said.
However, the Police Chief himself, Bryan T. Norwood told NBC12 that Diardour’s claim is off the mark.
“What the candidate said about Richmond police department salaries is not true,” Norwood said flatly.
Police Department officials could not speak specifically to Diardour’s claim about Ms. Archer’s salary, but stood firm in their claim that there was no broad hike in management salaries.
Diardour maintains that his point remains the same. He believes rank and file officers and firefighters deserve to be compensated better.
Samuels believes his opponent needs to be a bit more careful when he makes claims without the specifics to back them up.
“I believe he was so desirous to score a cheap political point that Mr. Diradour did not verify his information about police salaries,” He said. “Would-be public officials need to be as diligent as possible, especially when talking about responsible city spending and public safety.”
Samuels and Diradour are both on the ballot in the November election.
Was this debate publicized on NBC 12 news? I watch daily at 6:00 and 11:00 and don't recall hearing about it. I wish I had known; I would have attended.
Posted by: Rhonda Thissen | 10/17/2012 at 08:54 AM
Dicon:IT IS NOT A REHAB! Most rehabs are in pecals such as Doset, Wales, Weston Super Mare. Countryside. Is your complaint about the documentation or the fact there is a proposed drug service nearby? I doubt there will be more needles in the street as I would hope the service users wouldn't be using illegal drugs when attending. Surely they get tested for substances when they attend?Everybody else:I too have 2 small children under 5 and thankfully remain unaffected by drugs or drug issues. I have family members who are not so lucky. There are many residents in Brockley addicted to illegal substances. There are also many residents who are alcoholics etc. Perhaps we could ask them all to leave Brockley alone so the likes of us can enjoy it in peace and tranquility. Perhaps we could tell Wetherspoons to move their pub as it would encourage alcoholics to accumillate there?I really think we are looking at Brockley with rose tinted glasses, the sirens are constant (so the comment about the police presence is almost laughable, there's CCTV all over the place too and I undertsnad this is manned footage so an actual person see's things as they happen!Do you really think these centres will encourage more drug gangs into the area? Don't you think they would be more likely to want to stay away from the limelight?I'm afraid your comment was too long for me to read the whole of it. Apologies if you addressed any of this in that.And I too live in Brockley and support this service. They can have my back yard it they like but I don't think it's big enough. ; )
Posted by: Chien | 11/08/2012 at 03:18 AM