ANIMAL PLANET
After Stuckey is fired from Animal Services, new chief Boks steps into a department knee-deep in a crisis
By Annette Stark
Anyone who thought the firing of Los Angeles Animal Services General Manager Guerdon Stuckey would bring a little peace on earth - at least to L.A.'s tumultuous animal community - by now probably realizes that it isn't happening anytime soon. Four days after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's December 9 notice to Stuckey that he had 48 hours to quit or be fired, Stuckey was in a meeting with employees of his department, saying he flatly refused to leave.
Villaraigosa then attempted to put an end to the whole mess by sending Stuckey his termination notice on December 15. He followed this with a press release announcing that a replacement had already been hired: Ed Boks, a longtime no-kill advocate and the former executive director of New York City Animal Care and Control (NYCACC). Boks will act as interim general manager in L.A. pending approval by the City Council.
The drama, however, was just beginning. Stuckey's attorney, Edward Lear, sent a letter to the mayor's office demanding a year's severance and threatening a wrongful-termination lawsuit. At the same time, union leader Julie Butcher, whose Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local 347 represents workers and managers in the city's six shelters, circulated a letter signed by more than 140 LAAS employees, pleading for their boss's job. The communication stated, in part, "When other public safety agencies in the City get bad press or have a perceived problem, they have money thrown at them."
Since his appointment one year ago by then-Mayor James Hahn, Stuckey has been targeted by animal activists, who insist he mismanaged the department and was not the man to execute Hahn's promise to make the city shelters "no kill" by 2008. On September 16, Stuckey's Bunker Hill apartment was smoke-bombed and the anonymous militant group Animal Liberation Front (ALF) took credit for the attack.
In that same letter, LAAS employees insisted that Stuckey's firing could result in "continued empowerment of these terrorists."
Shelter employees, however, say they were afraid to not sign the letter. "We asked [other workers], why are you signing this? They said they were told [by management]: 'If you don't sign it, how will that look for you if Stuckey stays? It won't look good,'" said one employee who didn't want his name used. This allegation was repeated by two other reliable sources with close connections to the shelters.
Stuckey will be appealing his case in front of the City Council on January 10. He needs 10 votes to be reinstated, eight to be awarded a severance package.
Enter Boks, who seems to be taking all this flap in stride. Still on vacation when he arrived in town two weeks ago, Boks got right down to business, meeting with the community, visiting shelters, and putting out the word that he needs volunteers to help paint the facilities bright, non-institutional colors, just as he did in New York. "L.A. is like a breath of fresh air for me," he says. "The big difference here is having folks who get it. Not just the Commission, the mayor's office ... Los Angeles is light years ahead of other communities in its acceptance of so many animal issues."
Stuckey appeared to have soured on the city's animal advocates over time - getting smoke-bombed didn't help - but there is every indication that Boks has a different management style. While Stuckey took a lot of heat from both activists and members of the Board of Animal Services Commissioners for not holding union shelter personnel accountable and, as CityBeat previously reported, even ignored reported violations of the Hayden Bill, it appears that Boks runs a tight ship.
Activists such as STAND Foundation's Daniel Guss went from originally questioning the Boks appointment to championing it. "He appears to have a track record of: If you want to work in the shelter, you had better have a passion for animals," Guss explains. "If they don't, they need to be gone, regardless of union obstacles. But if you say this to the union, they call you a terrorist. That's bullshit."
Boks doesn't dispute his record. "We did have a high turnover rate [in New York City], 60 to 70 percent," he explains. "There were a lot of folks in that system that didn't appreciate or weren't up to the challenge of no-kill."
At NYCACC, the first shelter worker who answered the phone said, "He was a good boss. He got rid of a lot of managers who were sitting around doing nothing." CityBeat's calls to United Service Workers of America, which represents NYCACC shelter employees, were not returned.
Boks's relationship to animal advocates, however, is sure to be tested very soon. On December 16, Butcher joined City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and Councilman Dennis P. Zine in a press conference announcing that the City Attorney's office had filed a 14-count criminal complaint against Animal Defense League Los Angeles (ADL-LA) for participating in a "criminal conspiracy to harass, intimidate, and terrorize city employees."
For the past several years, ADL-LA has staged raucous protests outside the homes of Stuckey, Butcher, and LAAS Commander David Diliberto, among others. They carry signs that read "puppy killer," and post the names of key L.A. officials on their website at stopthekilling.net.
The complaint lays out more than 40 incidents of alleged attempts by ADL-LA to "harass and intimidate Dave Diliberto." These include posting photos of Diliberto's family members on the group's website, showing up at his house after dark wearing "black clothing, hoods, bandannas, ski masks, and/or skeleton masks," and calling him obscenities (on his answering machine).
"It outlines a clear conspiracy by the organization to violate the state Penal Code," says City Attorney spokesperson Frank Mateljan. "If convicted, the defendant [ADL-LA] could be subject to fines and costs [$120,000] and probation terms that would restrict it and its officers from engaging in the illegal acts outlined in the complaint."
Shortly after the criminal misdemeanor charges were filed, CityBeat learned that SEIU 347, which represents shelter workers, also represents Diliberto and 400 city attorneys, including case prosecutor Spencer Hart. ADL-LA leader Pam Ferdin was surprised to learn of this tie, but the City Attorney's Office insists it's not a conflict of interest. The mayor's office did not respond to requests for comment.
On December 21, ADL-LA filed a $3-million claim against the city. According to their statement, the action is "In response to the blatant lies and egregious misrepresentation of facts by City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and other City of Los Angeles [City] officials."
Boks appears to have avoided controversy so far. Some activists, like Guss and Animal Advocates head Mary Cummins, have said they're delighted with the appointment. Others insist they're being cautious, feeling they got burned for originally supporting Stuckey. Normally outspoken, ADL-LA has only said its is still "researching" his background
But some activists have questions, including the "temperament testing" that was done on animals in New York.
"I'm glad you asked me that," Boks says, when questioned about the controversial practice used to determine if animals are safe for adoption. "There are several who feel [temperament testing] is voodoo science, or subjective, or whatever; it is a collection of data ... so that animals can be adopted responsibly or released to rescue groups who can better socialize and prepare them for adoption."
Explaining that he doesn't support the shelter's practice of euthanizing animals based on temperament tests, he says, "So, the question is how we use it: to save lives, rather than to take lives, to help dogs that are acting out of fear in a shelter, to get them out and into a loving home." He'll probably have a fight on his hands, knowing L.A. activists, but it also looks like he's ready for the noise. "Those who are critical, I completely understand your cynicism," he laughs good-naturedly. "And I welcome your input, observations, and feedback. What I understand of Los Angeles ... the community fully wants to help and when they don't feel there's a level of transparency, that just compounds the problem. Transparency is job one."
Published: 12/29/2005
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