Monday, February 20, 2012 An Atlanta firefighters union official Monday denied race has anything to do with its request to Mayor Kasim Reed to enlist outside investigators to look into allegations of cheating on a fire promotion exam.

The request for an independent inquiry follows a civil trial judgment against the city Friday, when a Fulton County jury found the city's Department of Human Resources didn't fully investigate the allegations.


The Atlanta chapter of the International Association of Fire Fighters has asked Reed to request assistance from the GBI or the state's Inspector General for a new investigation.

Jim Daws, president of the union's local chapter, said Monday that Reed ignored the union's request in June 2010 shortly after concerns were raised about the test results. Now that a jury has found there was evidence of cheating on the exams, Reed should take action, Daws said.

"Only then will we be able to take actions to restore full confidence in the integrity of Atlanta Fire Rescue and limit the negative consequences to those who actually engaged in corruption," Daws said in a prepared statement.

In an interview with the AJC, Daws said the union's request for outside investigators is not racially motivated, noting the majority of union members and test takers are black.

"We're protecting everybody’s rights that took the test above board," Daws said. "All we want is for the integrity of the test to be protected."The issue of race was raised Friday by Robert Godfrey, senior assistant city attorney.

Saying the city was considering an appeal of the jury's decision, Godfrey said that the plaintiffs' case "basically centered on the idea that you couldn't be an African-American in 2010 and do well on a test."

The union sent a letter to Reed on Saturday requesting the outside investigation. Daws said he had not heard from Reed or the city as of Monday.

additional details at: http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/race-doesnt-motivate-test-1356333.html