ST. LOUIS (AP) -- St. Louis Fire Chief Sherman George was demoted Monday to deputy chief, the result of his long-running refusal to make promotions because he disagreed with the candidate testing process.

  St. Louis Public Safety Director Charles Bryson said George's demotion was effective immediately, though the chief's attorney said George is legally fighting the decision.

  Bryson named existing Deputy Chief Steve Kotraba as acting chief effective immediately. He said Kotraba will begin filling vacancies that have been at the heart of George's dispute with City Hall.

  Bryson said he would begin the process to find a permanent replacement for George.

  By city ordinance, that replacement must come from the ranks of the fire department.

  The dispute stems from a 2004 federal lawsuit that contended the test used to determine promotions was biased against blacks. In May, a judge ruled that the test did not intentionally discriminate.

  George's lawyer, Thomas Blumenthal, said he has filed legal action, now at the Missouri Court of Appeals level, seeking to have the court intervene and stop the demotion. His legal argument is that the chief has the sole discretion to promote. City officials have disagreed, saying George was directed by his supervisor, the director of public safety, to move forward with the promotions and did not do so.

  "The city charter gives me discretion to promote or not," said George, 63. "They removed my discretion without a vote of the people. That's unsafe and illegal."

  George previously has said that he does not see the matter as a racial issue.

  "The issue is solely one of safety, and whether the tests, and resulting lists, assess the ability of firefighters to perform supervisory roles in dangerous conditions required by the nature of firefighting," he wrote in a letter to Mayor Francis Slay in August.

  George wrote that he has repeatedly proposed a number of alternate testing requirements, but his recommendations have been ignored.

  In September, Slay urged George in a letter to end the hold on promotions. He told the chief he feared the issue, if not addressed properly, "will severely damage your ability to lead."

  City Hall officials have voiced concern that about one-third of the managerial positions in the fire department are unfilled.

  (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

If people didn't pass a promotion test, they don't deserve to get promoted. Just because more blacks failed then white, I don't see how they can have a beef about it. In fact I would have thought they'd shut up about it as they look pretty stupid! How can this be racial?

When George didnt see the people he wanted to promote on the list, he deemed the promotional process as flawed. A court decision found that he was wrong and that the tests were fair. After the court decision was handed down the mayor says to promote, so George should have made the promotions.
Race is indeed a problem in our society, but all to often people use that term as when things don't go their way. This is obviously the case here.

The Chief was fired because he disobeyed a direct order. In the military that is terms for an article 15 (also a probable demotion). I believe the fire department should be upheld to the same standards that military is. As far as his race goes, well I am originally not from the Saint Louis area. In my hometown I was a minority, not by race, but religion. I have lived in the South and on the West coast. I can honestly say, from my experience that Saint Louis is overflowing with racism and it is not whites against blacks. It is blacks against, Whites, Asians, Indians, etc..... I have been turned down for a promotion because I am white. Reverse discrimination is a serious problem in this area. What happened to being equal. Let us take responsibilities for our actions and not put the blame on something or someone else as in the case of this fire chief. Lets be honorable and humble. Sometimes it takes a bigger person to step down and take responsibility for their actions.

Hats off to the City Offficala for taking this bold step to resolve this issue. The Fire Chief was given a directive by his Supervisor and he refused to follow that directive. Sherman George is fortunate to still be employed with benefits.
The issue here is not the testing procedure because this has already been ruled upon by a federal judge, the issue here is that an order was given to do something and the order was flagrantly disreguarded in order to promote a greater racial divide within the department and fulfill personal agendas.
Using this testing procedure as a soapbox to further Sherman Georges racist agenda within the Fire Dept. had to end. If you were qualifed in the position, you should have performed well on the test. If you performed poorly, then it is time to crack the books and learn how to do the job.
This b.s. about throwing the card race into every situation when someone does not get their way is becoming very tiresome.

About a year ago I left St. Louis after living there my entire life. I continue to be disappointed at how the City continues to put race at the center of every issue. Sherman George did not refuse to promote firefighters because of race. His suggestion was the test did not include all areas considered crucial in leading firefighters during emergency situations. Could the Mayor not tried to listen to Chief George's concerns and act accordingly....a good leader surrounds himself with people who have expertise in critical areas and with more knowledge. Those people's opinions are thoughtfully considered. This issue is clearly political and created by the Mayor's office to purposely divide the City down racial lines. Poor Charles Bryson is being used as a pawn. The fomer Public Safety Director had the good sense to resign because he is aware of the wrongdoing and the part he has played. It is a sad state of affairs in the City of St. Louis, shameful and disgraceful.

Chief George was a man with integrity and stood by what he thought was best. It is not often a true Gentlemen of intelligents attains such a goal as Chief of the Fire Department. The others involved handled it wrong.

I think the demotion was too lenient! He should have been fired a long time ago. Quit being a crybaby because you are not getting your way. The chief indulged in a new low in playing the race card.

I'm glad they finally demoted him. Actually he should have been fired a long time ago. Chief George is irresponsible and insubordinate. I don't care what color he is, he needs to be in an unemployment line!!!!!!!

Anytime you disregard your boss's direct order you take a chance on losing your job

It seems that I had to do what my boss and company wanted or I would have been in trouble an perhaps even out of a job. The chief had a choice and he made it. Let's no feel sorry for him. He understood what he was doing and what might happen.

It does not surprise me that Mayor Slay would get involved in a department issue ran by an African American. I don't hear anything about him going against any other personnel, such as the Chief of the Police Department, etc.
If there is any dispute about testing practices then there should be no promotions until it is totally resolved.
I am a working citizen of the city and do not want incompetent captains promoted just to save face when my life and my family lives are on the line.
Mayor Slay and his flunky should have back the Chief of the Fire Department. My questions to Slay are why he would not accept Chief Sherman's compromise to hire 15 captains instead of 30? Why was he so head strong about how many should be hired? Why is he so heavily involved in promoting practices of the fire department? Is he involved in all promoting practices for all the City department\divisions? This is where the racial discrimination comes in to me. Fair is fair if you stay out the affairs of other departments\divisions then you should have done the same for the fire department.
Did Slay think the person he had in position was not qualified to make managerial decision or does he feel the need to micromanage departments headed by African Americans or could it be that the white unions are involved?

Alderwoman Sharon Tyrus warned the people about Dictator Mayor Slay. They would not listen. He will do his best to get rid of Darlene Green next. He has hoodwinked most of this city. We will remain a divided city perhaps even more so now.

I think that part of the problem with the whole promotion list for the firefighters who took the test and either passed it or not to be a captain started way back when they first took a test to get in the fire academy. Ten years ago when these firefighters were taking a test to get into the academy you took the test and were ranked on a waiting list to make it into a academy class. but even back then they did not take the top people on the list solely by their number on the list they always hired 50/50 white/black. So if they had a class that was going to start they would take the
half of the white applicants and half the black applicants and white guys would be passed over to even start the academy if they had all the white guys they needed for the list. so they might be in the top 20 on the list and they were going to take a class of say 30 then you would think you were in but you would have to wait until the next time they had another class because the only take 15 white guys and go down the list until they have 15 black guys. so sometimes you had guys entering the same class at the academy that were number 10 on the list going to school with guys that were number 210 on the list. how is that fair? If you didn't do well on the test to get into the academy and you got in anyway to me it only makes since that is going to follow you all the way up. The whole list to start the academy or the way George wanted to promote not by who did the best on the test but because of what color your skin is is ridiculous.
All these people that are backing George really don't know why they are backing him other than he is black and they are black. Compare taking the test and getting a number and waiting for your number to be called like going to the deli department and pulling a number off and waiting your turn and you pulled number 10 and you can see that they are on number eight so you have good reason to believe that you're going to be called pretty soon to get what you want at the deli but they skip your number because you are the wrong color and now you have to wait to get what you want untill 2 people come in that are the right color and you are still waiting 4 years later for those people to come in. Nobody would stand for that yet for 4 years that is what the taxpayers in st. louis have been doing. when it really comes down to it do the taxpayers of st. louis really care what color skin the guy under the air mask has or do they want the best people for the job regardless of their skin. another thing I would like to know is where is all the money that has not been paid for all these vacant jobs. the fire department payroll budget should have all that salary money that was not being paid out sitting in a bank some where, is it?
Another thing I think the taxpayers in st. louis should know is that all this time that George has not filled those jobs and promoted those people firefighters that weren't always qualified were filling those positions and not being paid the difference. If you were the senior guy on a shift at a firehouse that did not have a captain then the guy with the most seniority was acting captain that day. sometimes it was guys who had taken the captains test and not passed it but they had the most time on the job so they got the job for the day. but if they got hurt or killed that day their family would not have received captain benefits. How was George showing that all he really wanted was the best people for the job when this is how he has been running the department for the last 4 years?

Demotion!!! he should have been FIRED!! A court made the decision on the fairness of the test, his boss told him to promote people but he didn't think it was fair. Who cares what he thinks?? He needed to do his job, he didn't no someone else will.

I THINK CHIEF GEORGE THOUGHT HE WAS ABOVE ANY ATHORITY. HE WOULD LAST IN THE ARMY ABOUT 1 SEC.

Chief George set a really unfortunate example by being insubordinate to his boss, The Public Safety Director. If he wanted to protest the promotions or the test that is given for them, he could have resigned in protest.
For the fire fighters to see their Chief do this sets a precedent that unsubordination is ok if they have a "cause". Well, action like that does result in consequences surely Chief George knew this. Or he thought he was bigger than City Hall and everyone knows you never fight City Hall, 'cause you can never win.
Who knows, maybe he was tired of the entire controversy and wanted to step down to a less stressful postion before retiring. I can't blame him for that.

I don't care if he is black, white, green or purple. Refusal to obey a direct order from your boss is grounds for termination. The same with those taking the test. If you can't pass it then you don't get the promotion. Maybe they need to study a little more. I was always taught that you have to work hard no matter what you do. I have not had any promotions handed to me. I went to school,studied & worked hard to show I deserved it. I've also been turned down because I was not qualified. And guess what, there are blacks that were qualified & got the jobs. So stop the whining about race everytime something goes wrong. Why don't all these preachers walk the neighborhoods & get rid of the criminals. Stop hiding them, stop saying you didn't see anything or who did it. You sure come out of the walls when you think it's a race issue. The only race issue is those still thinking we were responsible for slavery. I nor my ancestors had anythign to do with that so stop shoving it in our faces. My ancestors came over here with nothing. We've worked for what we have which is what everyone else needs to do. So stop crying we were slaves because YOU WEREN'T..........move on... my kids are friends with black, brown, white & yellow. Not one of them is from Africa. They say they are the color they are. I bet 99% of those that call themselves African Americans are just plain AMERICANS like the rest of us.

I think that enough taxpayer dollars have been wasted on this battle. It's over and time to move on. The leaders of the black community should focus on the ever increasing violent crimes being committed by young black males. I think the majority of us are tired of the race card being by the black community when they do not get their way. Stop the violence and you will stop the racisim.

I DON'T KNOW WHY CHIEF GEORGE IS COMPLAINING,THE ONLY WAY HE WAS PROMOTED IS BECAUSE HE IS BLACK.IT IS TIME WE LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD.

If Sherman George saw that the test was fair, and was based upon proper and necessary standards for required knowledge by those wishing to become firefighters, then EVERYONE should be graded on the ability to pass the test - not just black - not just white - but EVERYONE. This seems to be his stance: doing the RIGHT thing!

Tell us: What do you think?