Days after former city employee James Hodge’s third lawsuit against the city was dismissed, three city officials abruptly walked out of last week’s City Council meeting when Hodge claimed that he had been the victim of discrimination over the years.
Hodge, a former animal warden and a community leader in the North Park area, was fired in May 2009 over charges that money was missing from the city’s animal shelter.
He had filed a lawsuit in 2007 claiming racial discrimination and retaliation by the shelter’s humane commissioner, the assistant city manager and the city. Hodge claimed that a city official used racial epithets against him, that he was denied promotions and that officials violated his civil rights.
Two other lawsuits Hodge filed against the city date back to 2002 and 2004, and stem from what he claimed was a series of political retaliations and a pattern of discrimination, including excessive force by Long Beach police officers.
City Manager Charles Theofan, City Council President Thomas Sofield Jr. and Corporation Counsel Corey Klein all described the lawsuits as frivolous. The three officials left during the Good and Welfare portion of the Nov. 3 City Council meeting as Hodge, standing with several of his supporters, accused them of lying about him.
“In spite of what a judge decided … we will fight on, there is a Court of Appeals,” Hodge said. “My lawsuits are not frivolous.”
Amid cries of “No justice, no peace!” Theofan, Sofield and Klein walked out after disputing the claim that they lied and that Hodge was targeted for political reasons and for being an outspoken advocate in the community.
“James, don’t just come up here and call me a liar without any basis,” Sofield said before he walked out. “There’s absolutely none.”
Hodge’s 2007 lawsuit against the city was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas C. Platt, and Theofan said that the dismissal “confirms the city’s position that Mr. Hodge’s lawsuit was capricious and frivolous.” Platt dismissed the first two lawsuits on April 14 and July 2. All that remains of the second suit, filed in 2004, Theofan said, is a claim of excessive force against two police officers.
“The city continues to represent those officers and is confident that if the case goes to trial, they will be fully exonerated,” Theofan said. “The city is appealing that portion of the court’s decision allowing the excessive force claim to go to trial.”
Hodge’s attorney, Fred Brewington, said that all of Platt’s decisions are being appealed. Hodge’s lawsuits against the city include claims that its Democratic leaders retaliated against him when he broke ranks to back former Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi during his campaign and Republican candidates running for City Council in 2001.
In 2009, Hodge, then the animal warden, was fired after more than $8,000 in cash went missing from the city’s animal shelter. Hodge, who was appointed warden in 2007, claimed that he was unfairly blamed for the missing funds, which he said disappeared gradually, over a three-year period, beginning before he was appointed. City officials, however, maintain that Hodge was responsible for the missing money and that a hearing officer recommended that he be removed.
Brewington said that Hodge’s ouster was retaliation for his earlier claims of discrimination. “[The city’s] claims are unfounded because the funds that they claim went missing were prior to his appointment — the time frame does not coincide with his time as animal warden,” said Brewington. “Out of all the people who had access to those funds, he was the only one that was charged.”
At last week’s council meeting, Hodge distributed a letter written in March by Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, addressed to Theofan, in which Rice explained that investigators from her office had conducted a thorough investigation, determined that each animal shelter employee had a key to the closet in which cash receipts were kept and that “there exists no doubt that the lack of proper city controls on this property played a part in this possible theft.”
Theofan did not return calls for comment. Brewington argues that an arbitrator ruled in July that Hodge should be allowed to return to work, a ruling that the city is appealing. “Their appeal doesn’t wipe out the [arbitrator’s] decision,” Brewington said. “They refused to put this man back to work when they had an obligation to do so.”
But Klein said that Hodge’s lawsuits, in which he asked for millions of dollars, have no basis. Klein maintains that the hearing officer found Hodge guilty of the violations at the shelter and, after the Long Beach Civil Service Employees Association appealed the decision, an arbitrator also found him guilty but determined that he could return to work, albeit in a different position.
“The arbitrator … indicated that the violation was too severe and that Mr. Hodge should go back in a different position, not the same position,” Klein said, confirming that the city has appealed the arbitrator’s decision.
Brewington said that a fourth lawsuit by Hodge against the city is in the works, and a complaint is pending before the New York State Division of Human Rights, regarding what he called “the city’s disregard of the independent arbitrator’s decision” for not rehiring Hodge.
Comments about this story? Arifilato@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
