Frank Ricci

SJC Changes Ricci Affiliation After Complaints From ConnectiCOSH

Rachel Slajda | July 15, 2009, 3:46PM

The witness list on the Senate Judiciary Committee web site has been changed to identify Frank Ricci as a member of the New Haven Fire Department following a complaint from the organization he claimed to represent.

Two board members of the Connecticut Council for Occupational Safety and Health sent a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy explaining that Ricci is not, as he states in his bio, the director of fire services for the council. He had been identified as such in official witness lists for Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings.

"It made it appear as if he was speaking for ConnectiCOSH, which he does not," said Judy Sanger, a board member, in a phone interview this afternoon. Sanger said the board doesn't have a position on Sotomayor's confirmation and has not discussed it.

"We've never talked about it, so it's absurd to be claiming that you're representing the occupational safety and health community. He's not authorized to do it," she said.

"We don't want to be identified with" opposing Sotomayor, she said. "It's not what we're doing here."

Sanger confirmed to us that Ricci is not and has never been an employee of, or spokesperson for, ConnectiCOSH. She said the council has "certainly worked with him over the years," work including firefighter safety initiatives such as getting better rehab after injuries.

"We have no wish to deny the good things he has done," Sanger said, but "he's not speaking for ConnectiCOSH here."

Ricci's lawyer, Karen Torre, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Frank Ricci

Connecticut Council On Occupational Safety: Despite His Claims, We're Not Affiliated With Ricci

Brian Beutler | July 15, 2009, 11:36AM

The Senate may wish to place a moratorium on criticism of New Haven fire fighter cum expert legal witness Frank Ricci. But we sure don't.

On its official witness list, the Senate Judiciary Committee lists Ricci as Director of Fire Services, ConnectiCOSH (Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health). And that's understandable--he boasts as much on his website.

The problem, unfortunately, is that there is no such position.

Seeking to distance themselves from Ricci, ConnectiCOSH has sent a letter to Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asking him to correct the record. "Mr. Ricci has posted on his website that he is the "Director of Fire Services for ConnectiCOSH" but there is no such position with ConnectiCOSH," writes ConnectiCOSH Co-Chair Steve Schrag.

We have in no way authorized him to testify in relation to this nomination. In fact he does not hold any elected or appointed position with ConnectiCOSH.

Please remove ConnectiCOSH from any association with Mr. Frank Ricci in relation to his testimony before your committee regarding Judge Sonia Sodamayor as his views are his own and do not reflect our organization's position regarding his lawsuit against the city of New Haven and subsequent legal decisions.

You can read the entire letter below the fold. At a glance, I'd say the non-existence of a "Director of Fire Services" position is probably evidence of anti-Ricci discrimination of some sort on the part of ConnectiCOSH, and they should either invent one or expect to be sued.

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