CA mayor: Photo after worker death was union setup

Mayor Gary Monahan said Friday that he had not yet learned of Huy Pham's death when a union official took the photo of Monahan wearing a kilt and greeting customers in the bar that he owns.

"Before I was informed of yesterday's incident, the union decided to take despicable advantage of this tragic situation to advance their agenda," Monahan said. "Had I known what transpired, I never would have agreed to pose for photos or engage in any revelry."

But Nick Berardino, general manager of the Orange County Employees Association, said Monahan acknowledged the 29-year-old's apparent suicide before the photo was taken.

"I asked him, 'How can you be out here doing this when only 90 minutes ago, one of your employees committed suicide, jumped off a building,'" Berardino said. "His response was, 'I know that was a tragedy, but I own a business and I have to keep my business open.'"

Pham, a maintenance worker, plunged from the roof of the five-story Civic Center on Thursday, about an hour after he was called in to work to receive the pink slip. He was one of 213 city employees - nearly half the city's work force - who were to be notified of layoffs that day.