Long standing Police Chief (2 decades) fired by incoming Homophobic Mayor

A very small town in South Carolina has a scandal due to an incoming Mayor.

The Police Chief, Crystal Moore is openly gay, and has served the town without incident for 2 decades. Incoming Mayor, Earl Bullard is strongly opposed to gay rights. This same incoming Mayor issues 7 reprimands to Moore on the same day. Police Chief Moore has never received a reprimand prior to this. Then Moore is fired, and it is alleged that Bullard stated he was going to fire Moore before he took office.

More can be read here:

www.slate.com...

Now people talk about the so-called 'Gay Agenda'. What about the 'Anti-Gay Agenda? If this case is as cut and dried as it seems, does this not show disgusting bigotry and discrimination against someone because she is simply a lesbian. Rather than having a male partner, she prefers a female one. How this affects her ability to do her job is beyond me.

It seems Crystal Moore has some power and backing in this case, and it is refreshing to see these people in this small town standing up to a small-mindedness of one individual.

More apparently damning evidence can be found here, where it seems that the Mayor broke with standard protocol, and did not even even give verbal or written warning to the police chief.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Latta Mayor Earl Bullard fired Moore on Tuesday soon after she received seven reprimands, which alleged that she had failed to maintain order and questioned authority, among other offenses, according to a report by WBTW News 13. The reprimands were the first Moore ever received after more than 20 years on the job. What's more, members of the city council said Bullard, who just became mayor in December, broke with protocol by not giving Moore a verbal or written warning for any wrongdoing, or discussing the matter with the council before taking action.

By Wednesday, dozens of residents were picketing outside of town hall calling for Moore's job to be reinstated; Moore came by too, to thank them. Others in the town, which has a population of just over 1,400, held a prayer virgil for Moore.

It looks like disgusting behaviour from the Mayor, and it seems that he may be stripped of some of his powers thanks to acting in this manner.

a reply to: cuckooold

Certainly sounds like an oil and vinegar relationship.

I wonder if Ms. Moore was being disrespectful rather than putting up with the new boss. Me, personally, I don't care if you're gay or not. If you choose to not get along with me ... I'll let you know that choice was yours ...

No telling what happened in press reporting these days. Seems like politically correct side picking at first glance. A secretly recorded phone call? Really??

Bottom line: Mayors are responsible for the actions of their police chiefs. Who they choose to hold that position is why the mayor gets elected and the chief is merely an appointee. This really sounds like a case of hurt feelings.

It will all come down to whether the reprimands that were issued by the Mayor can be made to stick.

If they were justifiable, homophobia as a motive cannot be proved. If they are shaky and can be challenged / overturned then the new mayor is in deep trouble.

I find it ironic that the townspeople who voted the new Mayor in are suddenly against them already. Not a good start to their term lol.

The allegations are:

1. Running background checks without properly signed authorization

2. Failure to report to supervisor about problems in other departments

3. Using office/position to seek revenge against another for personal affront

4. Questioning authority of supervisor

5. Questioning authority of mayor to look at job applications for potential employees

6. Failure to maintain order, contributing to disorder at council meetings

7. Contacting news media to help bring about disorder and disruption to the town of Latta

If she is guilty of even a few of those, she should have been removed from the position. I guess that is the crux, people are jumping to the conclusion that he is just against gay people and made them all up. I hope he has some good proof to back it up.

a reply to: TKDRL

But are people jumping to conclusions or not?

Is there any substantiation of the accusations against the Police Chief Crystal Moore? If so, then perhaps the Mayor has a case. If he's just a homophobe with an ax to grind, that's a different matter altogether.

The Mayor has made homophobic statements, as well as seemingly assumed the use of power he's not authorised to use, unless going through the appropriate channels. The articles I have read all seem to agree on this. I'm not having any luck so far in finding evidence off the Police Chief's wrongdoing.

20 years service with no reprimands, and then 7 in one day - seems a little excessive somehow. If however definitive proof surfaces of Moore's wrongdoing, I would certainly be willing to look at the case in a different light.

a reply to: cuckooold

You would have to be an idiot to fire a well liked, longstanding chief without due cause. So either she is corrupt, or that town can all pat themselves on the back for electing a moron.

Was just trying to point out, that the mayor being against gay people, does not necessarily mean she is not corrupt.

a reply to: cuckooold

Sorry, but I haven't seen not one proof that she was fired because she's gay.
In my opinion, this is just the media doing their job.

There are lots of places where the chief of police is appointed by the mayor.
If there's a new mayor, he can appoint his political allies.
Maybe gay has nothing to do with it

originally posted by: TKDRL

The allegations are:

1. Running background checks without properly signed authorization

2. Failure to report to supervisor about problems in other departments

3. Using office/position to seek revenge against another for personal affront

4. Questioning authority of supervisor

5. Questioning authority of mayor to look at job applications for potential employees

6. Failure to maintain order, contributing to disorder at council meetings

7. Contacting news media to help bring about disorder and disruption to the town of Latta

If she is guilty of even a few of those, she should have been removed from the position. I guess that is the crux, people are jumping to the conclusion that he is just against gay people and made them all up. I hope he has some good proof to back it up.

Exactly. I found something from February from their local news outlet:

www.wbtw.com...

The new mayor objected to the police chief investigating one of his appointees, a man named Vontray Sellers, on her own. The list of charges you posted has everything to do with that investigation and nothing to do with her being gay. The fact that Moore cleaned out her office after being fired shows that the authority of the Mayor to fire the police chief is unquestioned in that town. The gay angle didn't appear in the news until after Moore was fired so I agree with you, this appears to be about how she did her job and not about how she lives her life.

To the OP, the thread title is a little misleading. Moore was police chief for only 9 months.

a reply to: Goteborg

Hmmmm, how does 9 months translate to two decades? Interesting.

I guess no one told her butting heads with the boss is not a very wise move in politics in most cases. I guess it isn't only politics either, make your boss look bad and insubordination in just about any job is usually not the best career move.

It seems she has been with the department for 20 years. Either I misinterpreted the initial article, or it was deliberately misleading as to her actual time as chief.

I came across this little bit of information on msnbc.com

Moore investigated Mayor Bullard's most recent hire, Parks And Rec Director Vontray Sellers. NEWS 13 first broke the story of Sellers driving a Latta town vehicle while his license was suspended back in February…Chief Moore found the mayor neglected to conduct a background check on Sellers.

If this is true, then the Mayor is obstructing justice.

a reply to: cuckooold

That right there proves 1,2 and 5 on that list were true. Is it standard for a police chief to attempt to vet mayoral appointees? I never heard of that before.

a reply to: cuckooold

How does this show the mayor obstructing justice? The check had already been done and the information had been released. The questions here are why did Moore do the check, was it her responsibility to do the check, did she follow proper procedure when conducting the check, and how and why was the information made public?

There's not a lot of info on this story so far but from what I've seen it looks like Moore tried to show up her boss.

originally posted by: TKDRL
a reply to: cuckooold

That right there proves 1,2 and 5 on that list were true. Is it standard for a police chief to attempt to vet mayoral appointees? I never heard of that before.

Yep and my opinion is that number 7 was probably the one that resulted in Moore losing her job. Think about it, she's the police chief in a small town and has been on the force for 20 years. What's the next logical step up? I'd think it would be Mayor. She brings media attention (allegedly) to what is a minor issue in order to make the new mayor look bad one month after he takes office? That's not a gay move, that's a political d-bag move right there.

Or this police chief has been abusing power for years and everyone was scared of being called "homophobic" so they did nothing about it. Just another side of the coin.

originally posted by: TKDRL
a reply to: cuckooold

That right there proves 1,2 and 5 on that list were true. Is it standard for a police chief to attempt to vet mayoral appointees? I never heard of that before.

my guess is she's knew this guy from before. its a small town we are talking about here. if he had ever been hit before for driving on a suspended she might know about it if she has been a cop there for a while. it looks like a doofus mayor that appointed a buddy without asking if he had a license or not and gave him a city car.

originally posted by: TKDRL

The allegations are:

1. Running background checks without properly signed authorization

2. Failure to report to supervisor about problems in other departments

3. Using office/position to seek revenge against another for personal affront

4. Questioning authority of supervisor

5. Questioning authority of mayor to look at job applications for potential employees

6. Failure to maintain order, contributing to disorder at council meetings

7. Contacting news media to help bring about disorder and disruption to the town of Latta

If she is guilty of even a few of those, she should have been removed from the position. I guess that is the crux, people are jumping to the conclusion that he is just against gay people and made them all up. I hope he has some good proof to back it up.

Could be the reason the new mayor ran for the office, to clean up the small town corrupt police dept...Could be he's fulfilling a campaign promise...Likely being a homo has nothing to do with it...But it sure makes good headlines...

a reply to: cuckooold

Just a question on terminology.

If your gay and accuse others of homophobia then you're homosexual. It's not called gay phobia because it doesn't sound severe enough yet gays hate being called homosexual.

Why is this?

From the OP's Huffington Post link;

What's more, members of the city council said Bullard, who just became mayor in December, broke with protocol by not giving Moore a verbal or written warning for any wrongdoing, or discussing the matter with the council before taking action

You can't just give seven warnings in a day then fire someone. This Mayor is an absolute tool. He actually should have fired her for being gay because there are no laws to stop that and its obvious when reading the whole story that was his game plan all along.

This woman needs to be reinstated in her job while the allegations (which it sounds were motivated by homophobia after all ) are properly investigated. For instance I'd almost put money down that the questioning authority reprimand came because she challenged the idiot Mayor over the previous six allegations.

originally posted by: Maximus2014
a reply to: cuckooold

Just a question on terminology.

If your gay and accuse others of homophobia then you're homosexual. It's not called gay phobia because it doesn't sound severe enough yet gays hate being called homosexual.

Why is this?

Who said so?

I think you will find it's a long held urban legend belief in the gay community that the worst homophobes are usually really closeted gay people. I've seen this belief referenced here on ATS in gay issue threads many times. I'm gay and get called called a homophobe by my partner if I say anything derogatory toward my gay peers lol. So I'm sorry I think your belief is a little off there.

You can call me homosexual, gay or whatever it all means the same thing until you add intent and tone of voice.