The End of Giuliani Time

This is astonishing.

Many people consider Rudy Giuliani "America's Mayor," and many of our members who don't yet know the real story, may also have a positive view of him. This letter is intended to make all of our members aware of the egregious acts Mayor Giuliani committed against our members, our fallen on 9/11, and our New York City union officers following that horrific day [...]

The disrespect that he exhibited to our 343 fallen FDNY brothers, their families and our New York City IAFF leadership in the wake of that tragic day has not been forgiven or forgotten.

In November 2001, our members were continuing the painful, but necessary, task of searching Ground Zero for the remains of our fallen brothers and the thousands of innocent citizens that were killed, because precious few of those who died in the terrorist attacks had been recovered at that point.

Prior to November 2001, 101 bodies or remains of fire fighters had been recovered. And those on the horrible pile at Ground Zero believed they had just found a spot in the rubble where they would find countless more that could be given proper burial.

Nevertheless, Giuliani, with the full support of his Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen, decided on November 2, 2001, to sharply reduce the number of those who could search for remains at any one time. There had been as many as 300 fire fighters at a time involved in search and recovery, but Giuliani cut that number to no more than 25 who could be there at once.

In conjunction with the cut in fire fighters allowed to search, Giuliani also made a conscious decision to institute a "scoop-and-dump" operation to expedite the clean-up of Ground Zero in lieu of the more time-consuming, but respectful, process of removing debris piece by piece in hope of uncovering more remains.

Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever, with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited at the Fresh Kills Landfill.

One group of people that you don't mess with in this country... firefighters. Ask Arnold in 2005. The IAFF supported Kerry early in 2004, but they weren't out in front. If Giuliani is the nominee, expect them to be in the headlines for months. It's more advantageous to the firefighter's union, or really any interest group, to be opposing a candidate than to be supporting one. Sadly, negative campaigning works.

I wasn't sure they'd speak out this vocally and this early. Firefighters are unimpeachable. Giuliani is done.

See also here. When your wife and kids no longer speak to you... you've got a long road.

UPDATE: Yes, Giuliani takes the wingnuts back to the glory days of 2002 when they were arrogant, authoritarian and on top of the world. But firefighters attacking him for his callousness will hit him right at his strength. He's running to be President of 9-11. If his performance on that day is tarnished, he's got nothing.