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Mayor’s office besieged by angry telephone calls

By John Geluardi Daily Planet staff
Wednesday September 26, 2001

In the aftermath of the fire chief’s decision last week to remove the American flag from city fire trucks – a temporary measure, in fact – work in the mayor’s office has been brought to a screeching halt, with an endless succession of angry telephone calls.  

Mayor Shirley Dean said the calls seemed to become more hostile Tuesday after conservative radio talk show host G. Gordon Liddy, not only falsely accused the Berkeley mayor of ordering the removal of the flags, but also gave out her office phone number to his estimated 8 million listeners. 

“Well, now I’m an un-American, stinko, commie bitch,” said the mayor’s Executive Assistant Tamlyn Bright after fielding another hostile call. At the next desk over, another of the mayor’s aides had a blank look on her face while she held a telephone receiver arms’ length from her ear.  

Bright said she has spent the last four days trying explain to callers that the mayor had nothing to do with the removal of the flags and in fact is a supporter of the city’s fire department displaying the flags on fire trucks.  

The issue received national attention last Wednesday when Berkeley Fire Chief Reginald Garcia, concerned about protecting firefighters during an anti-war demonstration, ordered American flags removed from all of the city fire trucks.  

Concerned that firefighters, with flags on their trucks, responding to an emergency situation related to the demonstration might incite demonstrators to turn their attention to the vehicles as they did during Gulf War protests, Garcia had the flags removed.  

“As soon as I heard they were going to remove the flags, I argued against it, and argued mightily as a matter of fact,” Dean said. “But this idea that I’m responsible is persisting.” 

City Manager Weldon Rucker agreed with Garcia that protecting the firefighters during the demonstration was of paramount concern and agreed to the removal of the flags, according to the manager’s Chief of Staff Arrietta Chakos. 

Chakos explained that the flags were to be removed only for the duration of the demonstration and were replaced on the fire vehicles last Friday. 

But the talk show hosts somehow attributed Rucker and Garcia’s decision to Dean. Bright said the misconception that Dean ordered the removal of the flags began last week on the Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage radio shows, and despite staff efforts to correct the error, other talk hosts like Liddy and Dr. Laura Schlessinger have not let it stop them from broadcasting the inaccurate information. 

“None of the shows called this office to fact check first,” Bright said. The calls began to come in Wednesday afternoon as soon as a local raidio show aired news of the decision and they haven’t stopped since, according to the mayor’s Chief of Staff Jennifer Drapeau. 

“We’re all shell-shocked here,” Drapeau said with a sweeping gesture toward her desk piled with documents. “Nothing has been done in this office since last Wednesday afternoon.” 

Drapeau said the calls have ranged from curious to upset to outright hostile. “There has been a lot of ranting and name calling,” she said. “And when we try to explain they just hang up.” 

She added that those who take the time to listen to the staff’s explanation seem to be satisfied, and that the office has received some e-mails of apology. 

Dean said the notoriety is not good for Berkeley. There have been a series of news events that have reflected badly on Berkeley beginning with the decision not to hold a ceremony at City Hall for a group of Japanese Boy Scouts because of the anti-gay policy of the Boy Scouts of America, Dean said. Controversies over an alleged anti-Muslim cartoon in the campus newspaper, the Daily Californian, and Rep. Barbara Lee’s sole anti-war vote have made Berkeley a national target, the mayor said.  

“This is hurtful to Berkeley,” Dean said. “I go to national, state and even county meetings and they look at me like I’m from Mars.” 

The Daily Planet was unable to reach any of the talk show hosts who had targeted Dean in the flag controversy.