Backing The Wrong Race Horse.....Again

So I am sure everyone knows by now that for the last several weeks crusty old white racist conservatives like Pat Buchanan have come out strong against President Obama's Supreme Court Justice nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, based almost entirely on a decision she and the rest of her panel made on the infamous Ricci Case in New Haven. Frank Ricci alleged all the way up to the Supreme Court that he and his fellow white officers (and one Hispanic) had been the victims of reverse racism when the city of New Haven through out all of the test scores which were supposed to help decide which firefighters got promotions, because of an apparent racial bias in the outcomes of the test.

Now the Pat Buchanans of the world believe that white men are just such an oppressed minority that they need everyone to watch out for them and show them (gasp) empathy. They have been hammering Sotomayor over and over claiming that her ruling in the case, which reaffirmed a lower court's ruling and was unanimous at the time, evidenced a racial bias of hers against white men. They have held up Frank Ricci as the prototypical hard working (white) Amurican, living out the Amurican dream and overcoming his dyslexia only to be slapped down by that bad, oppressive Latino woman.

How dare she!

You may also know that the Supreme Court recently overturned the decision in a 5-4 ruling which some math challenged crust old racist conservatives like Pat Buchanan decided was actually a 9-0 ruling. As if to emphasize the point that they would be attacking Judge Sotomayor on the basis of some imaginary racial bias the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee decided to bring Frank Ricci in as a witness for the confirmation hearings starting on Monday.

But a funny thing happened on the way to those hearings. It would seem that Ricci just might not be the guy conservatives want representing the Amurican dream after all. That is unless they are now totally reversing themselves on tort reform.

Ricci is invariably painted as a reluctant standard-bearer; a hardworking man driven to litigation only when his dreams of promotion were shattered by a system that persecutes white men. This is the narrative we will hear next week, but it somewhat oversimplifies Ricci's actual employment story. For instance, it's not precisely true, as this one account would have it, that Frank Ricci "never once [sought] special treatment for his dyslexia challenge." In point of fact, Ricci sued over it.

According to local newspapers, Ricci filed his first lawsuit against the city of New Haven in 1995, at the ripe old age of 20, for failing to hire him as a firefighter. That January, the Hartford Chronicle reported that Ricci sued, saying "he was not hired because he is dyslexic." The complaint in that suit, filed in federal court, alleged that the city's failure to hire Ricci because of his dyslexia violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Frank Ricci was one of 795 candidates interviewed for 40 jobs. According to his complaint, the reason he was not hired was that he disclosed his dyslexia in an interview. That case was settled in 1997 with a confidential settlement in which Ricci withdrew his lawsuit in exchange for a job with the fire department and $11,143 in attorney's fees.

In 1998, Ricci was talking about filing lawsuits again, this time over a dispute with his new employer, Middletown's South Fire District—which had hired him in August of 1997. According to a Hartford Courant report of Aug. 11, 1998, Ricci was dismissed from the Middletown fire department after only eight months. He promptly appealed his dismissal, claiming that fire officials had retaliated against him for conducting an investigation into the department's response to a controversial fire. A story in the Hartford Courant dated Aug. 9, 1997, has Ricci vowing "to pursue this to the fullest extent of the law."

In August of 1998, a state Department of Labor investigation cleared Chief Wayne S. Bartolotta of any wrongdoing in the firing. The Aug. 3, 1998, letter from the state Department of Labor indicated that the case was closed with a finding of no violation. "After a thorough investigation, it was determined that the South Fire District did not discriminate against Mr. Ricci." Ricci's response? According to the Courant, Ricci contended "Their decision was political, it has nothing to do with who was right and who was wrong." He told the paper he would "pursue the matter in civil court."

Ricci also tried to discredit his former boss, Chief Bartolotta, by disparaging his professional credentials. His fight over access to Bartolotta's professional training records was resolved between the two of them a week before the matter was slated to be taken up with the state Freedom of Information Commission, according to a Jan. 13, 1998, report in the Hartford Courant.

Eventually, Ricci made his way back to the New Haven Fire Department, where he famously aced his promotions test, then sued, yet again, in 2004.

BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

gasp, breathe, gasp

BUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

So basically this is a guy who has gotten just about every job he has ever had either buy suing or threatening to sue his employer. You have got to love this story.

Its called vetting, Republicans. We know its not something you like to do as evidence by the choice of Sarah Palin for VP last year but damn!

Yeah I can't wait to see how this "hail mary" pans out for yous guys LOL.