The mayor bounced the case back to the City Council, which two weeks ago voted 11-1 to settle the racial discrimination lawsuit. The plaintiff, 19-year firefighting veteran Tennie Pierce, has linked his experience to an ongoing pattern of harassment of minorities and women in the Los Angeles Fire Department that top- ranking city officials have acknowledged and pledged to eradicate.

"Like every Angeleno, I am deeply troubled by the allegations raised here," Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference. "However, new information has come to light since the city attorney recommended settlement of the case. I believe that this information merits a re-examination of the matter."

Photographs have surfaced since the initial council vote that appear to show Pierce participating in past fire station pranks. The mayor and his chief counsel said the photographs were part of this "new information," but would not specify if there was any other new evidence.

Pierce's lawyer, Genie Harrison, issued a statement late Monday calling the mayor's veto an "outrageous" act that came in response to a "smear" campaign.

"I welcome the opportunity to try this case," she said. "There is devastating and conclusive evidence against the city, which was the reason the settlement was agreed upon in the first place. I look forward to showing the citizens of Los Angeles just how cancerous the working environment in the LAFD is for women and minorities."

A two-thirds majority of the 15-member City Council would be required to override the mayor's veto. That seems unlikely, as six of 15 members voted last week to reopen settlement discussions after the photographs appeared.

In addition, Councilman Jack Weiss, who initially supported the settlement, said Monday that after speaking with the mayor and others, he now supports re-examining the case. Weiss, a former federal prosecutor, said he still thinks the case is "tricky" for the city to defend, but that the council needs to change the way it evaluates all lawsuits with such large payouts.

The settlement had sparked a strong backlash on talk radio programs and Internet blogs. Councilman Dennis Zine, who was the lone dissenter on the initial vote, appeared on radio programs over the weekend urging listeners to write the mayor demanding a veto.

Zine issued a statement Monday praising Villaraigosa's "fiscal responsiveness."

Retired fire Capt. Jerry Thomas, who has supported Pierce and other firefighters who have spoken out about department practices, countered that the photographs do not change the substance of the case.

"It's two different situations," Thomas said. "(One) where an individual is a willing participant in a joke, and on the other hand they surreptitiously hid a can of dog food all day and then mixed it with his spaghetti and served him dog food. That's a totally different thing and there's racial overtones."

The photographs appear to show Pierce engaged in group hazing activities. Attorney Harrison said that she deposed those involved in the dog food episode and none of them said any past pranks by Pierce were related to the incident.

The move marked the first time since Villaraigosa came to office in July 2005 that he has vetoed a vote of the City Council. Responding to questions from reporters, the mayor said it was not unusual for a former activist and American Civil Liberties Union leader to mark such a milestone by opposing a settlement to a racial discrimination case.

"Those of us who came out of the civil rights movement, we have always stood for the idea that we should have all the facts on the table," Villaraigosa said.

The mayor also signed an executive directive Monday ordering all city agencies to crack down on hazing. Villaraigosa's fire commission appointees are working on a plan specific to the department that they undertook after Controller Laura Chick issued an audit earlier this year that found rampant harassment within the fire agency.

Written by Daily Breeze