The Blame Game

The head of L&I blasted the press at a recent private gathering of his employees.

by Ralph Cipriano

Embattled L&I Commissioner Edward J. McLaughlin says the blame for a current investigation of his department rests on "the slime level" in the press and "a nutcase in the fire department."

An angry McLaughlin spoke to at least 50 L&I employees two weeks ago in a private, hour-long staff meeting at the International Brotherhood Electrical Workers Local Union No. 98 on Spring Garden, according to two sources who attended the meeting and sought anonymity. Another L&I employee who answered the phone Tuesday and declined to give her name said that Commissioner McLaughlin declined comment on what was said at the meeting.

According to sources, McLaughlin said at the private meeting, "We had a nut case in the fire department who did not follow the chain of command." He did not identify the fire department employee he was referring to, although Capt. Thomas R. Donovan of the fire code unit was critical of L&I officials in a City Paper story two weeks ago. Donovan, informed of McLaughlin’s comments, declined to respond.

The City Paper reported that the city’s inspector general was investigating decisions by top L&I officials to dismiss 100 fire code violations at 15 Center City high rises and apartment buildings owned or managed by Philadelphia Management. The president of Philadelphia Management is Ronald Caplan, a wealthy and influential Center City developer and regular Democratic party contributor.

In the City Paper story, Donovan was quoted as criticizing L&I officials for "unsound and unsafe" practices that, according to Donovan and other fire department officials, may endanger the lives of residents and firefighters.

McLaughlin, according to sources, told those attending the meeting that the unnamed fire department official did not follow protocol. McLaughlin said the fire official should have brought his complaints up the bureaucratic ladder to Fire Commissioner Harold B. Hairston, who in turn could have taken them up with McLaughlin.

"Hairston never came to me," McLaughlin said at the meeting, according to the sources. Hairston did not respond to a request for comment.

McLaughlin also said he had no plans to retreat in the face of criticism.

"We’re strong in our defense," he said, adding that the problem with an ongoing investigation is that officials are not allowed to comment.

McLaughlin also has blamed the City Paper story on a reporter who was out to get him (freelance writer Ralph Cipriano, author of this story). "The slime level is way up on the City Paper reporter who has been after me for years," McLaughlin said during the private meeting, according to sources.

McLaughlin also said during the private staff meeting that he had other battles with the press. He said an unnamed reporter at the Daily News told him he was "full of shit." "I didn’t take that personally," McLaughlin said at the meeting, adding that he later received an apology from the newspaper. A reporter at the Daily News who recently wrote about L&I is on vacation and could not be reached. Daily News Editor Zack Stalberg also could not be reached. DN deputy managing editor Michael Days said that Stalberg did not know anything about any apology to McLaughlin.

In the private staff meeting, McLaughlin angrily referred to criticism that his department had been doing favors for Caplan, according to sources. "You’re damn right we’ve been favoring people," he said, according to the sources. McLaughlin said that Caplan wasn’t the only recipient of favorable treatment.

"Because everybody’s getting that kind of treatment," McLaughlin said. "You’re treating everybody like that."

McLaughlin said Caplan was a major developer who at one time "had 10 buildings in play. He was renovating 10 of those abandoned Center City buildings," McLaughlin said, according to sources. McLaughlin said that L&I "helped that revitalization happen," according to sources. McLaughlin also asserted that L&I employees had a stake in making sure that businesses survive in the city. Because if businesses failed, "Your pension might be in bad trouble," McLaughlin told the employees, according to the sources.

"This is about our city. It’s about a city that’s gonna support us when we’re ready for retirement," McLaughlin said. If businesses survive and the city prospers, then "those [pension] checks are gonna come," McLaughlin told the employees.

McLaughlin, a former police inspector, said that before he came to L&I, he didn’t know Caplan "from a hill of beans." McLaughlin transferred to L&I in December, 1995. He said that he and Caplan started out as adversaries, and turned out to be friends.

"I am Ron Caplan’s friend, and Ron Caplan calls me his friend," McLaughlin said, according to sources. He said Caplan trusted his professionalism and truthfulness. As a result of that relationship, McLaughlin said, L&I was able to achieve a "higher level of compliance," according to sources.

McLaughlin also told L&I employees that he lived in a Caplan property during a three-month period when he was separated from his wife of 35 years. McLaughlin described himself as "a scared little bunny" who was "out on my own for the first time," according to sources. McLaughlin told L&I staffers he had been married since he was a teenager. He said he needed a place to stay, so he began talking to local developers.

"That’s how I ended up in one of Caplan’s buildings," he said.

Caplan could not be reached for comment as of press time.

McLaughlin said he used to run into Caplan at the Famous Delicatessen on Fourth Street, and said he told people at the deli that his son was in between jobs, and needed a new one. He quoted Caplan as responding, "I’ve got something. Have him come and see me," according to sources.

McLaughlin said his son went to work for Caplan for about four and a half months before taking another job. When McLaughlin sat down after a 20-minute speech, no one applauded, sources said.

One of the speakers following McLaughlin was Deputy Commissioner Dominic Verdi, who according to city records, was the official who closed out many of the Caplan violations.

Verdi told the L&I employees that before the violations were closed, officials met for hours and "we went over every violation." Subsequently, officials found a way to close out some of those violations, and some violations were reinstated. Verdi said he didn’t have to put his name in the records closing out the violations, but he wanted to back up "100 percent" the work of his fellow L&I employees.

Verdi also lashed out at City Paper, saying after a reporter took "his best shot … there will be a front-page article retracting the story."