TABC chief upholds terminations of employees, again apologizes to the LGBT community
AUSTIN —Despite his recent decision to uphold the firings of two employees, as well as the impending release of his agency’s final report on the Rainbow Lounge raid, the administrator for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said this week that for him, the incident "will never, ever be over with."
TABC Administrator Alan Steen said Tuesday, Oct. 13 that he’s denied appeals filed by Sgt. Terry Parsons and Agent Christopher Aller, who were terminated in August for multiple policy violations they were found to have committed in connection with the June 28 raid on the Fort Worth gay bar.
A third TABC employee who was involved in the raid, Agent Trainee Jason Chapman, wasn’t eligible to appeal his termination because he’d been with the agency for less than 90 days.
Also this week, TABC spokeswoman Carolyn Beck said the agency’s second investigation into the Rainbow Lounge raid — which deals with the agents’ use of force against injured patron Chad Gibson —is now slated to be released in mid-November. The use-of-force investigation previously was expected to be released later this month, but Beck said the investigator requested more time "to review recently released documents and to consult with the agency’s force instructor."
In an exclusive interview, Steen told Dallas Voice that although the matter may appear to be drawing to a close, at least from TABC’s standpoint, the raid will have lasting consequences for himself and the agency. Steen also took the opportunity to again apologize to the LGBT community for the incident.
"In my mind it will never be over with," Steen said. "It will never, ever be over with. Decisions were made on that night that will affect this agency for the rest of its existence. It’s embarrassing, and I can’t apologize enough. It’s wrong to the gay and lesbian people of Fort Worth, it’s wrong for the Metroplex and it’s wrong for Texas. There’s nothing about that [the Rainbow Lounge raid] that we can find that was right. In my mind it will never, ever be over, and there’s nothing that we can do."
Steen said he chose to uphold the terminations of Parsons and Aller because in their appeals, they failed to make a compelling case as to why he should overturn the decision of TABC Chief of Field Operations Joel Moreno, who terminated them on Aug. 28. TABC’s first investigation of the Rainbow Lounge raid, released Aug. 6, found that Parsons, Aller and Chapman committed a combined total of 19 violations of TABC policies in connection with the raid.
Aller and Chapman, who conducted the raid along with several Fort Worth police officers, failed to get approval for the operation from Parsons; wore improper attire and violated other procedures during the raid; and failed to later report their use of force and the injuries sustained by Gibson. Parsons, who wasn’t present for the raid, failed to ensure that the agents filed the necessary reports, according to the investigation.
Aller and Parsons couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Steen estimated that he upholds disciplinary action in about half of cases and overturns or modifies it in the other half. He said that because employees represent a "huge investment" to TABC, anytime they’ve been terminated, he tries to make sure the agency has done everything it can to keep them.
Aller and Parsons received letters denying their appeals dated Sept. 28 and Oct. 6, respectively. Parsons will be compensated for 240.5 hours of personal leave time he’s taken since the raid, because Steen said he should have been placed on paid administrative leave. Aller and Chapman were placed on desk duty shortly after the incident.
Steen said, "The investigation was thorough and complete. The findings of fact were thorough and complete and pretty hard to argue with. I couldn’t find any reason to believe that we should continue in any other direction.
"This is about attitudes," Steen added. "This is about how you treat people across the board, and that’s the part about it that I can’t get over. This isn’t how you treat people. This isn’t how you supervise people. … The message is real clear across this entire state and every single employee that we have, that that right there is not how we treat people."
Jon Nelson, a spokesman for Fairness Fort Worth, the LGBT group formed in response to the Rainbow Lounge raid, said this week he agrees with Steen’s decision to uphold the terminations of Aller and Parsons. Nelson also praised the agency for its handling of the investigations thus far.
"As a human being, it’s kind of mixed emotions," Nelson said. "I’m not gleeful that employees of the TABC were fired, and yet, I think it was exactly the right thing to do and what had to happen given the facts of what happened at the raid. I think that since the beginning of this incident, the TABC has been very strong and very forthright in assessing what happened and taking swift and direct action."
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition October 16, 2009.
Bravo, Steen.
Seems they are following in the footsteps of the Farmers Branch Police Department. and that is another story.
My name is Tiffany Aller, and I am the wife of Christopher Aller. I would like to respond to some of what I’ve read in this article, as well as other articles/blog posts on this site.
First, I have repeatedly seen the throwaway remark about my husband not being immediately available for comment. We have been contacted by the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the Dallas Morning News, Fox, CBS, NBC and the AP. Some reporters have called our house; others have called our cell phones. A couple came to the house, and one even contacted me through Facebook. We’re accessible people. Recently, Chris granted interviews to both the AP and NBC. To imply that we were not available for comments to the Dallas Voice also implies that you tried to reach us for comment. You did not and have not at any time.
Second, I find myself chuckling with the type of glee that Attorney Jon Nelson has foregone over Administrator Steen’s remarks as to why he turned down my husband’s grievance against his termination. I, too, limit myself in feeling glee at misfortunes suffered by others. But not when they bring misfortunes upon themselves.
You see, when Administrator Steen denied my husband’s grievance, Chris worked with the Texas Workforce Commission to launch an external and independent investigation of his termination. This investigation placed the burden of proof upon TABC to show that Chris was fired for disciplinary reasons. The results of that investigation? That his termination had no possible connection to any misconduct; he had performed his job as he was hired, trained and paid to do.
Third, I would like to respond to Administrator Steen’s comments about the impact of TABC’s involvement with the Rainbow Lounge. Clearly, Administrator Steen is continuing to show his bias against my husband in holding him responsible for having chosen which bars would be visited on June 28th and the overall course those visits followed. Those decisions were made by an entirely different police agency, and Administrator Steen does not possess the requisite police training to be able to criticize those decisions. Further, Administrator Steen should be called to accountability for claiming to run TABC with a bottom up approach, empowering agents to think creatively and work independently, when he clearly only believes that should happen if he gets to mandate that way of thinking or that style of working.
Finally, I would like to respond to the overall tenor of the articles and blog posts that I have read on this site concerning my husband. You do not know Christopher, or myself, and have no idea of the lives that we lead or the people with whom we associate. The remarks made both in these postings and their comments show far more bias than my husband or I have ever shown against anyone else in our entire lives.
Administrator Steen is right about one thing: this is far from over. And it is our goal, in the long run, that some semblance of truth will actually emerge. To be honest, we’re not hopeful; recent history has shown that hysteria is a far more attractive emotion than reason. But until someone effectively stands up to those who perpetrate untruths, change will never happen.
The governor’s up for election and he has a rough ride ahead. He’s got his man (Steen) doing all he can to secure the gay vote. Burn a couple of agents and make the gay community happy. Texas politics!
You may have a point; it’s a shame to see anything get reduced to pure politics, but I think that’s exactly what happens, and a lot more often than we ever realize.