Court: Fire officials should think twice before talking to the media at a fire

A federal appeals court today upheld a two-week suspension of Randolph's fire chief for discussing budget restraints at a press conference in front of a fatal fire.

Randolph selectmen suspended Charles Foley for seeming to link Proposition 2 1/2 to the deaths. Foley appealed in court, arguing that violated his First Amendment rights.

In a ruling today, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said that while public employees do not lose their First Amendment rights when they take their jobs, they can only exercise them in circumstances where members of the public could do so as well. Being dressed in a chief's uniform, in front of a still active fire scene, is not one of those, and selectmen had the right to consider Foley's comments to be inappropriate reflections of official town policy:

We emphasize that our holding is limited to the particular facts of this case. Under the circumstances of the press conference discussed above, there could be no doubt that Foley was speaking in his official capacity and not as a citizen. However, as the district court noted, had Foley voiced his concerns and frustrations in another forum -- at a town meeting, in a letter to the editor, or even in a statement to the media at a different time and/or place -- we might characterize his speech differently.