In the wake of a female firefighter’s victory against the city in a discrimination lawsuit, Mayor Bob Buckhorn is being urged to name a high-ranking woman to replace retiring fire Chief Tom Forward.
Earlier this month, Buckhorn said he will name a replacement from within the ranks.
A women’s Facebook group with 15,200 members, called "Surly Feminists for the Revolution," recently weighed in on the process, casting the selection as a referendum on the discrimination and retaliation case brought by firefighter Tanja Vidovic — and the department’s reaction to it. In February, a federal jury awarded Vidovic $245,000 in damages, deciding she had proved allegations that she was discriminated against because she was pregnant and that the city retaliated against her when she complained. She won her job back and recently returned to work.