A smoldering credibility problem

Arroyo, the sorry poster child. (Todd Ganci photo)

BOSTON FIREFIGHTER Albert Arroyo is giving public servants a really bad name.

Arroyo looks like he can bench-press a tanker truck. Yet, he claims he suffered a back injury so severe he can't pick up a clipboard and do his job as a fire inspector.

He is seeking a disability retirement at the same time he brazenly demonstrates his amazing physical fitness in bodybuilding contests - and, at the same time the US attorney is investigating questionable disability retirements of Boston firefighters, retired and active, of all ranks.

Talk about chutzpah.

ON WRKO's Finneran's Forum, Ed Kelly, president of the Firefighters Union, first said he wouldn't defend any abuse of the system. After watching a video of Arroyo participating in a bodybuilding contest "I was ready to vomit," he said. Then, he defended Arroyo, explaining that his leg "goes numb from time to time" and if that happens "when he's climbing a ladder, what good is it?" Apparently, numbness is an issue when you're checking fire code compliance, not when you're flexing muscles onstage.

It would be easy to blame the culture problem at the Boston Fire Department on a few bad apples and a union that encourages them. But it runs deeper than that.

Kelly's stubborn defense of outrageous behavior makes Mayor Thomas M. Menino look like the reformer he never was. Now, the mayor is challenging the union. But for years, Menino let the firefighters push him around during contract negotiations, and basically abdicated responsibility on disability claims.

Why would firefighters apply for questionable disability leave if they didn't think they had a decent shot at getting it? The Boston Retirement Board consists of two members elected by active and retired members of the system; the city auditor; one member appointed by the mayor; and one member elected by the others. Shouldn't a mayor now in his fourth term have enough clout to make sure the board does the right thing on shaky claims?

What's happening in the Boston Fire Department is just a microcosm of the public sector's larger credibility problem with the public.

It's summertime, which means it's budget time, and the bailouts are easy - or so Beacon Hill hopes.

Two years ago, Massachusetts politicians passed a sweeping healthcare reform law. It was creative. It was revolutionary. It was also vastly underfunded, and everyone knew it.

Deval Patrick wasn't governor then, but now he's in charge of finding a way to make the numbers add up. First, consumers were hit up for larger co-payments. Now, employers and healthcare providers and insurers are being asked to pay more. If they don't agree, who will make up the difference? If there isn't enough money - and there isn't - who will pay the price?

The legislation pegged Massachusetts as a healthcare innovator. Perhaps the politicians should have settled for less innovation and more secure financing. The accolades wouldn't have been as loud back then, but neither would the outcry now.

The Patrick administration is also hoping to bail out the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority by allowing it to refinance $800 million in debt, using Massachusetts taxpayers as collateral. State Treasurer Timothy Cahill said the effort "borders on fiscal recklessness." It is a bailout absent any plan for oversight or reform, for a public authority that desperately needs both.

You can blame the Turnpike Authority mess on a succession of Republican governors, the Democrats who control the state Legislature, and/or the Big Dig. But why should taxpayers assume the risk for cleaning it up without also demanding a change in the way business is done?

There are hardworking public employees who do their job and don't try to game the system. There are public agencies, programs, and authorities that serve taxpayers well.

But the good is quickly forgotten when it runs up against the arrogance of an Albert Arroyo. He is the sorry poster child for a public sector that too often shows contempt for the public that underwrites it.

Correction: McLean Hospital was misspelled in my column of July 13.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.