Fitzgerald-FirstNet saga generates many questions, few answers

Prior to making his April allegations, I knew little about Fitzgerald. Since then, every public-safety person I’ve interviewed about Fitzgerald—including those who disagreed with his approach to addressing perceived problems at FirstNet—have described the sheriff as a good guy, a straight shooter and a staunch advocate for public safety.

I have no reason to doubt these trusted sources, who know Fitzgerald much better than I do. My conversations with Fitzgerald about the above subject matter all have been cordial and consistent, as he firmly but politely declines to comment to the press on anything regarding his allegations about FirstNet.

Fitzgerald makes statements during FirstNet meetings on these topics, but not directly to the media, even when it might seem to be in his best interest. One example of this is that Fitzgerald declined to clarify his statement citing recommendations in the special review committee report on transparency—recommendations that committee members and other FirstNet officials say do not exist in the report.

Fitzgerald does talk to me about other stuff, including his improving health—thankfully, it sounds like he’s almost back to 100% after being seriously ill with a rare disease shortly after making his April allegations—and he comes across as a thoroughly engaging personality when the topic is not related to FirstNet.

Someday, I hope the legalities of the situation will allow us to have a frank discussion about his perspective on FirstNet and some of the things that have transpired during the past several months. I’m confident that such a conversation would be very enlightening, on many levels.

Next: Impact of Fitzgerald allegations on FirstNet.