A city employee suspended for using language deemed unprofessional during a conversation with a Detroit-area talk radio show producer last month has hired an attorney to investigate possible rights violations against him by Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and Chief of Staff Bob Reinbolt.

Brian Schwartz, the mayor’s spokesman who was put on unpaid suspension for 15 days Feb. 13 as result of WJR-AM 760 producer Kevin Collard’s accusation Schwartz met a request to interview Finkbeiner with a profanity-laced response, has hired Toledo attorney R. Kevin Greenfield to investigate past incidents of possible rights violations against him during his employment with the city, which dates back nearly two years, by Finkbeiner and Reinbolt, Greenfield confirmed Feb. 27. Schwartz deferred all questions to Greenfield.

Schwartz’s suspension was part of the latest controversy to surround the Finkbeiner administration, which involved the mayor ordering a company of Marine Corps Reservists to refrain from conducting a scheduled training exercise Feb. 8 in Downtown Toledo.

Calls made to Finkbeiner’s interim spokeswoman, Katerina Bekyarska, were not returned at press time.

Collard, who contacted Schwartz to request an on-air interview with Finkbeiner, said Schwartz responded to his inquiry with obscene language during their off-air conversation.

Schwartz deferred all questions to Greenfield, who said the investigation was in its “infancy stages” and that he could not give further comment.

Reinbolt, when asked Feb. 14 if Schwartz’s employment with the city was in jeopardy, said, “That’s between Brian and the city.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 28th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under TFP Version 1.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.