Tom Hennessy - a Man of Honor, but How Will Anyone Know Now?

On January 11th, retired Southern Manatee Fire Chief om Hennessy was cleared of any wrong doing by the recent investigation of his pension pay out by Pension Board. After a thorough and lengthy investigation, Chief Mike Johnson could not find any wrong doing according to the policies set forth, the procedures or actions at the time of Chief Hennessy’s retirement. Yet, most all anyone will remember from this sordid media mess is that Hennessy was charged by the media and investigated by his own department for doing something wrong to get his million dollar plus pension payout.

Tom Hennessy’s reward after 25 years of stellar service to this county in the Southern Manatee Fire District is a name dragged through the mud because of false accusations brought against him by the UNION he promoted to his own department and a disgruntled, bitter Battalion Chief. Now that’s some way to honor great service isn’t it? That’s something to look forward to in this district if you do a good job: expect the piranha’s to chew you up, spit you out and then never apologize for lying about your good name. Tom Hennessy has been angry about this entire ordeal and with very good reason.

Leigh Hollins, formerly of Cedar Hammock, said it better than I ever could in a comment to one of my blogs, about Tom Hennessy’s pension:
“The pension board did nothing wrong, Hennessy did nothing wrong.


Union official (Merv) Kennell is quoted as saying, “if it was done right, we’d drop our objections” and “we don’t believe it’s ever occurred before”. Well Merv, it all checked out and you owe Hennessy an apology and you are right, it’s never occurred before…because Chief Hennessy is the first (my emphasis) employee to retire from Southern Manatee with a full 25 year plus pension.


What’s the problem here? The problem is there is a disgruntled Battalion Chief with a personal agenda (my emphasis). You want a story, check out his record at, and away from, the department…..and away from the fire department….it’s all public record.
In his eight years as chief, he and the board of fire commissioners, brought the department’s facilities up to standard, replacing outdated stations and building an administration center; he enhanced the pay and benefits of his firefighters and he obtained badly needed fire apparatus. From what he was told by the firefighters, the reason the firefighters joined the union (just as he was retiring) was because they wanted to “lock in” and secure the pay and benefits that he worked to obtain for them.


Chief Hennessy was also the “brainchild” of, and spearheaded, the Manatee County Emergency Services Memorial Fund, which was responsible for funding and building the beautiful Emergency Services Memorial in Rossi Park and whose perpetual fund provides financial relief to the families of Manatee County emergency personnel who are hurt or killed in the line of duty.


Make no mistake, those who chose to drag Chief Hennessy into a management/union struggle for their personal gain (my emphasis), including the Bradenton Herald and his accusers, should be thanking him for his service and you should all be ashamed. He deserves a public apology.”

Do you see a trend here? PERSONAL agends, PERSONAL gain. Will the Bradenton Herald print an apology for swallowing the bait from the Union hook line and sinker and then dragging Tom’s good name through the mud? Anytime a million dollars plus payout is talked about it can “look” dirty. No one wanted to discuss the 25 years of service. TWENTY FIVE YEARS as a firefighter in this county, working through mergers, interlocal agreements and chaos while managing to become a fire chief over one of the most controversial yet to become one of the best fire districts in the state. The Union strategy to sensationalize the amount of the pension to the general public and then indicate that it was “dirty” politics to tarnish a good man’s name AND everyone associated with him was successful, via the press. Hooray for the first amendment! This is where an editor should be a little more responsible and perhaps do investigative reporting instead of conviction reporting. There is a way to write objectively so that the public can make up their own minds about who’s saying what. I seriously doubt there’ll be any apologies forthcoming from the Bradenton Herald. it always falls under the guise of journalism.

So the Bradenton Herald made a big brouhaha out of Tom Hennessy’s retirement sum. Then they pointed out how unfair it was to Lester Godwin to be put on payments that will net him nearly half as much MORE of his retirement fund than he would have received in a lump sum but everyone is sure we can afford these things in our district. [Here's an idea, why don't we put these CHOICES of lump sum or payout over time up to the voters for decisions and let us decide how long we want to pay out to these ungrateful people? And when the account is empty, well, so sorry. Or maybe it'll have to be adjusted to support their lumpsum payouts so they have it all when they want it all?] Somehow our commissioners have managed our budget just fine all these years. Not so sure our new ones will have a clue if they don’t listen to the veterans. But, the Bradenton Herald wasn’t willing to discuss how much Tom SAVED the district by not taking payments. The account will recover. And will the Bradenton Herald now discuss every single firefighter that retires from here on out- such as, Deputy Chief Tim Berry, who is ambitiously aspiring to be the new chief with the full and eager support of our “non-biased, for the taxpayers” Commissioner Ruben (remember that PROMISE he made to DC Berry?). Should Tim Berry choose to retire very soon, he’s already vested and no matter what the investigations come out with, DC Berry is all set to walk away just fine after participating in one of the most slanderous smear campaign’s ever. So I wonder will he be the next big retirement news story?

Sure, Tom Hennessy has his money and his retirement and most folks are thinking, so retire and get on with enjoying your life. That’s not good enough for Tom. Tom worked hard to build from the ground up and to support this ungrateful bunch of men who have smeared his name. When he was busy getting them the benefits they enjoy now and suggesting they get the Union to secure those benefits should the current commissioners not be in office, he probably never figured the folks he fed would turn around and bite him. His name means something to him and to have it dragged through the mud like it has been is unjust. Everyone needs to realize that the UNION President Merv Kennell, Pete Donchenko, Tim Berry, Jerry Bennett and Adam Chevalier are the pot stirrers who had no basis for their accusations. Their irresponsible behavior has been damaging and painful. Good people have been harmed by their selfishness. Yet below them there is still a network of “cronies” who think they know what’s best for the department over the management who’s been doing an excellent job for many years for both sides without airing all the dirty laundry in public. My blog wouldn’t exist if they hadn’t taken this all to the Bradenton Herald and other newspapers and invited public dissension. Like a cancer, they all need to be removed in whatever way it takes to get our department back to a healthy working basis. It does not mean the union must go but unions should never be in control of the governing body. I’ve listened to a lot of folks since this started and some have educated me on the benefits of the union. If it works for everyone the way it’s supposed, then great. If it doesn’t and it becomes a political machine for personal gain, then it’s no better than the cancerous attitudes of those few trying to get their own ambitious way. Looking out for the many is always better than looking out for the one, Commissioner Ruben.

All the nonsense about Tom Hennessy’s pension, reminds me of the following story I taught my boy scouts a long time ago about running their mouths with untruths. Personal agendas feed these untruths for their own gain, and serve no good purpose to anyone. The story is all about pillow feathers and goes like this:

There once was a man who had heard something bad about a local businessman and he kept the story going to everyone he knew about this businessman. He had never done business with him or needed to, but one day he finally had to and was astounded to learn he’d experienced the exact opposite of what everyone had been saying about this man. He was so convicted of his poor behavior that he went to the man and apologized for spreading the harmful rumors and saying the bad things about him and his business. He asked the man what he could do to fix this grave error in his judgment.

The local businessman thought a moment and said, “See that mountain in the distance?” The man replied, “Yes, I do but what’s that got to do with me and what I said?” And the man said, “Well to make me feel better, I need you to take a feather pillow up there to the top of the mountain and cut it open and let the feathers fly to wind! Then come back and see me.”

The man thought about it for a moment and then decided to do it thinking, whatever makes this guy happy! And so he returned to the businessman, and asked, “Now, I’m very curious, just how did that help you?"

And the businessman replied, “That didn’t. But when you can go pick up each and every single feather, you will have undone the damage you did with spreading lies and gossip about me.” The man stared at the businessman incredulously and said "that's impossible!" His face fell in sadness before the businessman when he realized that was the whole point and the businessman replied, “Now, THAT helped me, because I see you understand the damage you have done. Now, please go and don’t do such terrible things anymore.” And the man never spread lies about anyone again, but in fact found a way to spread the good word about this man he'd wronged.

The Union accused Tom Hennessy and the Pension Board of wrongdoing, they did not. Could the Union and Pete Donchenko find it in themselves to admit they did wrong? I doubt it. There was a strategy behind their wrongdoing during a time that needed focus during the elections. Instead they muddied everyone's thinking with the money issues and created a mess no one could figure out before it was time to vote. Commissoner John Barry spends extra time in his schedule to oversee these things and yet he’s accused of playing favorites for Hennessy and because of the accusations will now most likely be removed from the board. According to the news article a civilian will be chosen to replace him. How much more does anyone think that person will take that position seriously over an elected official who oversees the budget for our district? As a taxpayer of this district, it doesn't cause me any comfort to a good system broken down over personal whims and accusations made by foolish, childish men.

But, the first step has happened. Congratulations Tom for clearing your name. We knew all along you did nothing wrong. It's a shame it had to go on this long. It's a travesty it ever occured because many people will never pay any attention to the FACT that your name was cleared. Like all destructive actions, they'll only remember the damning accusations of falsehoods. Enjoy your retirement, you've surely doubly earned it!