City Ignored Unlawful Bias: Weak Oversight by City Council

Four Cambridge Human Rights Commissioners say, "Our attempt in 2005 to acquire general information about city employee complaints of discrimination, to receive a copy of the Monteiro complaint and to request the city law department to meet with us simply to provide us with the information, which the ordinance clearly mandates that we should have, was met with hostility. We were accused by the law department with interfering, told that our inquiry was out of line and informed that as a city-appointed body our interest and concern should be with city officials, when our mandate is to be concerned with and “protect… the human rights of all city… employees.” Furthermore, our attempt to be “properly informed,” we were told, carried the threat of a conflict of interest."

Yet the former Human Rights Executive Director, Quoc Tran, an associate of the police department refused to reveal public records to me about a proposed amendment to the city Human Rights ordinance, on two occasions. He also refused to accept complaints about unlawful discrimination in the city by city employees against persons with disabilities. He thought it was funny. He used the same arguments the commissioners say city officials used to them, that it was a conflict of interest. Curiously the city employs two affirmative action officers or diversity officers at $80,000 per year to address bias and hurt feelings, duplicating the work of the MCAD. These two city employees have no enforcement power unlike the Human Rights Commission which does. But the Diversity officers do not address hurt feelings of persons with disabilities or unlawful bias against them. These two officers are where city employees are supposed to go if they do not want to go to the MCAD because it is too far. My complaints to the City Council about the Human Rights Commission were ignored over many years. It shows that the City Councilors, the voters and taxpayers have no interest in addressing unlawful abuses by city officials. It is a statewide problem in MA where laws are optional. What role does Harvard play with this pervasive lawlessness? I am reminded of Roger Morris' observation in his tome, "Partners in Power," regarding the Clintons. He said the preferred profile of a leader is a weak person with relaxed rectitude. Does that describe the City Councilors, Police Commissioners, US Senators, US Reps, state reps and state senators in MA? How about the Executive Director of the Human Rights Commission and the City Officials with whom he shared opinions?

http://www.wickedlocal.com/cambridge/news/x984138967/Letter-No-information-on-Monteiro-case-from-the-start#axzz1b5OsRIgv

Letter: No information on Monteiro case from the start
[Editor’s note: The following letter was sent to the Cambridge City Council last week by former Cambridge Human Rights Commissioners. Since that time, the remaining cases mentioned in the letter have been settled by the city.]
Wicked Local Cambridge
Posted Oct 17, 2011 @ 03:29 PM