ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) – St. Louis County Police Chief Tim Fitch is claiming that his travel records, expense reports, and other documents are being examined in retaliation for his having requested an FBI investigation into the construction contract at the new St. Louis County Crime Lab.
Fitch does not say who requested the examination of his records, but he makes it clear in his blog that the examination is being done because he questioned whether it was a violation of Federal law for a contracting firm headed by Gregory Sansone to be awarded a $3.7 million dollar contract for heating and air conditioning at the new Crime Lab. Chief Fitch alleged that, because Sansone was also a member of the St. Louis County Police Board, the contract was a conflict of interest.
Sansone subsequently resigned from the Board. Last week, Federal officials delivered subpoenas to the St. Louis County Government Center requesting records connected to the contract. While not directly accusing St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley of orchestrating a retaliation campaign against him, Chief Fitch elsewhere in his blog links to a column by St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan, which lampooned Dooley’s alleged role in the contract.
Relations between Doley and Fitch have been tense for months. The County Police Board is scheduled to meet at County Police Headquarters in Clayton Tuesday.
Read the full blog here: ChiefTimFitch.blogspot.com
This is an excerpt from Chief Fitch’s blog:
Hopefully you had a chance to read Bill McClellan’s column today in the Post-Dispatch. Even as kids, my dad told us that people will have a good time with our last name and the word it rhymes with. Well played Bill, well played.
At any rate, you might guess that those who feel threatened by this whole situation aren’t just going to sit back and see what happens. I had a front row seat when they went after Chief Jerry Lee. I’ve seen this movie. Back then, they also went after the employees in the police department. Suddenly, our requests for training and travel were being denied. Officer misconduct was being purposely leaked. The price you pay for speaking out. Chief Lee is a decent and honorable man, but he knew he had to give in so they wouldn’t continue to interfere with the operations and reputation of his department.
My own experience of how this works is when I became vocal about speed cameras. Those who felt threatened when I called for a county-wide vote to ban the cameras hired a political research company to review my taxes, work expenditures and anything else they could find to discredit me or the police department. Those who actually hired the research company would never ask for the records themselves. They hide behind a political research company, so nobody will know who’s paying them. That’s how this stuff works. More…
