How racist term used disputed

Port Richey's new public safety director says he was speaking against racial bias.

By CAMILLE C. SPENCER, Times Staff Writer
Published September 25, 2007

PORT RICHEY - While he was still a candidate to be the city's public safety director, Mathias J. Brewi used a racially offensive word during a conversation with then-police Chief Bill Sager.

Sager was so offended by the use of the "n" word that he questioned whether Brewi should be hired and then wrote a memo about the incident to the city manager.

Brewi got the job anyway. And the memo that Sager wrote to then-City Manager Jerry Calhoun is missing from City Hall.

Brewi acknowledges he used the "n" word while conversing with Sager, but says he was paraphrasing someone else. Brewi says he did nothing wrong and was actually "speaking out against discrimination."

This spring, Calhoun began interviewing candidates for the public safety position. The job was created in part to save money by combining into one job the positions of police chief and fire chief.

Brewi, 60, is a former Secret Service supervisor, police officer and U.S. Army veteran who retired last year from the Jupiter Island Public Safety Department. He was among three finalists Calhoun chose for the position.

After narrowing the applicant pool, Calhoun asked Sager to take each of the three around the city to answer questions about the Police Department.

On April 17, Sager drove Brewi around. The two men talked law and current events. Then, the discussion turned to the Rev. Al Sharpton and the controversy surrounding shock jock Don Imus' offensive comments regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team.

"I said what bothered me was the fact that they were looking to fire him Imus and yet rappers all use the 'n' word," Brewi told the Times on Monday. "It bothered me. I used the word by quoting Al Sharpton" using the word.

As the conversation continued, Brewi told Sager that someone told him not to reside in certain parts of Florida when he moved to the state a few decades ago because that was where "n------ live."

Sager thought the situation over for a few days, then wrote a memo to Calhoun detailing what Brewi said during the ride. He also told Calhoun he should think twice before hiring Brewi.

"I think it's disgusting, what he said," Sager said last week. "I think it's very unprofessional to use that comment."

Calhoun asked the National Association of Chiefs of Police, who helped him find job candidates, to investigate whether Brewi had ever shown any indications of racism during his career.

He said nothing came up.

Soon after, Calhoun called Brewi and asked him what happened. Brewi explained and sent Calhoun an e-mail on May 9 defending the usage.

"While in the Secret Service, my No. 2 man was black and we were very good friends," Brewi wrote to Calhoun.

Calhoun, who had the authority to hire Brewi without advising the City Council, gave him the job.

"I have an understanding of the way a police department should be," Calhoun said. "He had a lot of management experience."

Sager is now a patrolman, after voluntarily taking a demotion so he could gain job protection from the police officers union. He was not a candidate for the public safety position.

Sager's memo was placed in Brewi's personnel file, but it's no longer there. Calhoun, who has since resigned, said he isn't sure where the memo is.

"I know at one time it was there," Calhoun said. "I don't know if it got misfiled. It's probably some place."

Mayor Richard Rober said that had he known about the incident during the hiring process, he would have liked to ask Brewi his side of the story.

"I would've asked Mr. C to discuss it with him," Rober said. "Racism has no place in our government. My bottom line is, it would've depended on his (Brewi's) answer."

Brewi defends his words, saying he was merely voicing his opinion against prejudiced behavior.

"I was speaking out against discrimination, and that was perfectly understood," he said. "I said nothing wrong. I was voicing my disdain. ... Everybody who knows me knows that saying I'm prejudiced is baloney."

Camille C. Spencer can be reached at (727) 869-6229 or cspencer@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 24, 2007, 22:36:26]