Mayor Settles Dispute Over His Disability

THOUSAND OAKS â€”  When he ran for office last year, Mayor Mike Markey touted his exploits as a homicide detective as one of his greatest qualifications.

He posed in a police uniform in campaign mailers, arguing that he, more than others, understood the importance of safe streets and low crime.

But by that point, Markey’s career with the Compton Police Department was essentially over. And his relationship with his 19-year employer could best be described as icy.

Culminating an 18-month battle with Compton City Hall, Markey was recently granted disability retirement on the grounds that a back condition and an arm injury have left him unable to do police work.

The 42-year-old father of three says he still has 16 shotgun pellets in his left arm from a shooting during the Los Angeles riots and suffers constant back pain from an on-the-job car wreck. Off the job since last year, he has used 1,600 hours of accumulated vacation time to keep his paychecks coming.

Only last month, however, did Compton officials retire Markey. He contends his role as an elected leader in Thousand Oaks, as well as his former activities as Compton Police Officers Assn. president, are behind the delay.

“It wasn’t a question that I was injured, because the city had already agreed to that a long time ago,� Markey said. “The city played games because of my political position, to be quite frank.�

Markey has his share of supporters.

“It seems to me incredible that he wasn’t immediately granted retirement,� said Compton Police Officers Assn. attorney Gerald Lennon. “Their position regarding Mike’s workman’s comp claim was, ‘If you’re disabled, how can you be a politician?’ That’s an illogical position. Being a street cop is a lot different than sitting behind a desk and shooting your mouth off.�

For their part, Compton officials refuse to publicly discuss Markey’s case, saying that it is strictly a personnel dispute and that airing it would be illegal.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, however, several city officials said they had questions about the severity of Markey’s injuries, as well as whether his back condition was actually the result of on-the-job activities.

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Until recently, Markey had what was by all accounts a successful career in law enforcement, rising to detective in 1985. After a stint in charge of the Compton Police Department’s traffic division, where he oversaw the launching of a motorcycle patrol program, he returned to Compton’s main detective bureau, where he worked on burglary, theft and eventually homicide cases. He served as Compton Police Officers Assn. president from 1990 to 1993.

“He was an excellent investigator and hard worker,� said Capt. Percy Perrodin, Markey’s supervisor for much of that time. “Everyone thought highly of him and his job performance.�

Markey’s health problems on the job began in 1983, when his back was injured by a collision in a police cruiser while he still was a street cop. Years later, he said he still feels pain.

In 1992, he was wounded by shotgun fire while attempting to barge into a house during the Los Angeles riots.

The lingering effects of the two injuries have left him unable to work as a police officer, Markey says.

“I have partially lost use of that arm and little finger,� Markey said. “I can’t lift anything substantial or grab people. That’s one of the things you have to do as a police officer.�

A city doctor eventually determined that Markey’s nagging back problems were the result of degenerative disk disease and suggested he be limited to desk duty while taking painkillers to ease the effects of his condition.

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So Markey began answering phones at police headquarters and working on fraud and forgery cases, occasionally going out to do legwork, but largely staying behind the desk. His detective skills sharp as ever, he impressed his colleagues by cracking several complex forgery cases, Perrodin said.

Then in June 1996, Markey’s days on the force came to an abrupt end after Compton Police Chief Hourie L. Taylor, citing concerns about the possible liabilities of having an officer on medication, sent him home temporarily while the issue was investigated.

Perrodin, the department’s risk manager, said he had already looked into the matter and determined that Markey’s painkillers would not pose any problems. But Perrodin never spoke to Taylor--he happened to be absent that day. Markey never returned to work.

“I told him [Markey] it was a mistake, that he needed to come back,� Perrodin said. “But he went to his own doctor, who told him not to come back.�

Perrodin said he was puzzled by the suddenness of Markey’s actions.

“He was handling his cases,� Perrodin said. “I’m not a doctor, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see how you can perform in a limited capacity one day and then not work anymore on another.�

Markey said the decision by Taylor had been long overdue, considering his long-standing back injury.

He said returning to work was out of the question, since his doctor had prescribed him even stronger medication than the city doctor had recommended. Carrying a handgun, something he had still been doing as a desk officer, would have been a safety hazard, he said. He filed a permanent disability claim.

That refusal to return on the advice of his doctors set off a legal dispute between Markey and Compton city officials, who maintained that Markey was still fit to work in a limited capacity.

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Markey, however, said he believed there was more behind the city’s stance, and at a medical hearing he contends city officials finally said what he had suspected they were thinking all along: If you can’t work for us, how can you serve on the Thousand Oaks City Council?

Markey, who considers the comparison ludicrous, said he was hurt by the insinuation that he was overstating his injuries.

But he said he holds no grudges against the Compton Police Department. Instead, he blames city bureaucrats--particularly City Manager Howard Caldwell, with whom he says he often clashed as union president--for what he sees as a retaliatory strike.

Caldwell did not return several requests for comment.

“My evaluations were always outstanding,� Markey said. “I received lots of letters of commendation. To have something like this happen to me--it really upset me. It’s upsetting that you can do a good job for 19 years and then have them sweep you under the rug and accuse you of lying to them.�

On Thursday, Markey’s attorneys met with Compton officials at a state Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board hearing and settled the last remaining dispute between the two sides other than a discrimination complaint Markey’s lawyers have filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Under the settlement, Markey will receive $164 a week until the city has repaid him the $37,000 it was determined he should have been paid after being sent home. He will also receive a lump-sum payment reimbursing him for the 1,600 hours of vacation time he used up.

Markey also will be officially retired, retroactive to the beginning of this year. But his pension--less than $26,000 annually--and his $12,213 pay as Thousand Oaks mayor--will not support his family, Markey said.

He is already planning for a new career as a paralegal assistant by taking a correspondence course with a Boca Raton, Fla.-based school. He is circulating his resume.

“I’ve got some feelers out there,� said Markey, whose wife, Jeanne, works as a nurse at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. “People think I’m set and I’m going to retire a fat cat, but that’s not true. I’m going back to school. I hope to do some consulting work or some investigations. I can’t do nothing. I’ve got mouths to feed. I’m far from going fishing all day.�

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Back in Thousand Oaks, as Markey’s critics heard about his retirement dispute, some began to publicly question his health status, accusing him of milking taxpayers or misleading Thousand Oaks voters during last year’s race.

“I think he was knowingly deceptive,� said engineer David Seagal, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat last year and again this year in Councilwoman Elois Zeanah’s recall election. “I believe he wanted to cover up the fact that he was asking for workman’s comp and not working anymore.�

Markey admits such criticism bothers him, as does the negative talk directed at him for working for security at Conejo Valley Days or helping out with the various sports leagues his sons Matthew, Ryan and Chris are involved in. But he said he realizes most of it is politically based, or simply uninformed.

“I think it’s ignorant,� Markey said. “I am literally a disabled person according to the law. Doing police work and doing regular activities are two different things. . . . What do these people want me to do, sit at home like an invalid?�

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Councilman Andy Fox, a task force commander with the Los Angeles Fire Department, said he too would take offense if he were retired on disability and people questioned his honesty because he was still active in the community and served on the council. But he believes Markey should not let such talk get to him.

“Most of the criticism is blatantly political, made by the same faces you always see on Tuesday nights,� said Fox, the only council member who holds a job.

“You have to take it for what it is. Mike has apparently suffered some serious injuries on his job. But even that is not enough for some people to take cheap shots at him for.�