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Ground Zero
Labor Remembers 9/11
Sep 8th - 2:59 pm
SEIU 32BJ is launching a newspaper ad campaign to conincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11 that honors 350 of its members who were working in the Twin Towers on the day the planes hit, 24 of whom died in the attacks.
The ad, which appears below, will run in several NYC-area papers – including the Sunday NYT, which is not a cheap piece of advertising real estate, although there’s no immediate word on the cost of this campaign.
The union is highlighting the role played by private security officers (10 of the 24 32BJ members who perished held that job), who the ad says serve as the public’s “eyes and ears” because they’re often first on the scene of emergencies.
While it’s not at all unusual for an organization to buy ads to mark a significant occasion, this ad carries particular significance since it comes at a time when labor is under fire all over the country and being blamed for the lion’s share of the states’ fiscal woes.
Along the same lines is AFSCME’s video remembrance of what union members endured on 9/11. It’s very moving, and really captures the spirit of unity that arose in the wake of the attacks.
“We were digging by hand,” recalls a DC37 emergency medical technician Patrick Bahnken. “You’re talking 200 plus story buildings, and we’re digging it out by hand. And I knew that a large number of people that I’d be carrying out, or looking for, or trying to help, were people that I knew.”
Bloomberg: 9/11 Families Don’t Need ‘Political Lectures’
Sep 7th - 5:19 pm
In an interview with my downstate counterpart, Errol Louis, Mayor Bloomberg defended his decision not to let elected officials deliver extended remarks at the 10th anniversary commemoration of 9/11 Sunday, insisting families of the victims “don’t need political lectures.”
“I think no matter what an elected official says, it’s going to be viewed in the context of politics, particularly if they are going to run for office again or in the middle of a campaign,” Bloomberg said.
Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie reportedly both pushed for a larger role in the ceremony, which will also be attended by President Obama, former President George W. Bush, former Gov. George Pataki and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Bloomberg has refused to budge on the line-up for Sunday’s event – a position that has also angered members of the clergy, who were left off the program.
Louis’ full interview with Bloomberg, which is something of a rarity – the mayor hasn’t been on “Inside City Hall” in years (since 2009, as it turns out), although his commissioners regularly appear – will air tonight at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The mayor will also discuss his legacy and where he was on that fateful day when two planes hit the Twin Towers and changed NYC – and the world – forever.
King Robos In Defense Of Turner (Updated)
Aug 25th - 5:41 pm
Dueling Zadroga robocalls is the storyline in the NY-9 race today.
First Democratic Assemblyman David Weprin launched a call recorded for him by John Feal, founder of the FealGood Foundation, who played a key role in getting the 9/11 health care bill passed by Congress.
In that call, Feal slammed Weprin’s GOP opponent, Bob Turner, for telling the DN editorial board that the Zadroga Act is too “broad” and perhaps should not apply to volunteers.
Democrats swiftly seized on that gaffe – a particularly egregious error, considering the special election comes two days after the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11. And Turner’s campaign was forced to do damage control, insisting the Queens businessman has always been a Zadroga supporter and has 9/11 firefighters and volunteers in his family.
Now comes the coup de grace of the Turner pushback in the form of a robocall from Rep. Pete King, the Long Island Republican who co-authored Zadroga. The call is hitting tonight, according to Turner campaign spokesman Bill O’Reilly, which means people coming home from work will receive them back-to-back.
The script and audio appear below.
“Hi, this is Congressman Pete King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. I helped write the law to give health coverage to firefighters, cops, and 9-11 volunteers – and I can tell you point blank that Bob Turner supports that legislation.”
“It’s one reason I’m supporting Bob Turner for Congress.”
“So don’t believe anyone who tries to tell you that Bob Turner doesn’t stand with all the brave men and women who worked and volunteered at Ground Zero.”
So please join Mayor Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, firefighters, police officers, first responders, and me, Pete King, throughout Brooklyn and Queens in supporting Bob Turner for Congress. He will never let you down.”
UPDATE: A response from the Weprin campaign appears after the jump.
9/11 First Responder Robos For Weprin (Updated)
Aug 25th - 11:01 am
Democrat David Weprin has been under attack from his Republican opponent Bob Turner, who has been running ads playing up Weprin’s support of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero. Now, he has enlisted one of the most visible first responders to the attack, John Feal, to help his campaign.
Feal is the founder of the FealGood Foundation, and played a key role in getting the Zadroga Bill passed providing more health benefits to first responders to 9/11 and to crews who got sick while cleaning up the the debris at ground zero.
Here’s the script of the ad:
Hi, this is John Feal, I was a volunteer first responder, horribly injured at Ground Zero. I fought hard for years to pass the Zadroga 9/11 Health Act which provides crucial health care and compensation for first responder volunteers and their families.
But Congressional candidate Bob turner doesn’t think this act is a good idea. He should be ashamed of himself. In the New York Daily News he actually said that he doesn’t think the brave men and women who got sick volunteering at Ground Zero in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks deserve federal health benefits.
It’s disgraceful. As we approach the tenth anniversary of the attacks, we must all remember the great sacrifices made by New York’s heroes made on that fateful day. Bob turner should remember too. Thank you and God Bless you all.
Update: Turner’s campaign spokesman Bill O’Reilly just sent us this response to the new robocall.
“Only a career politician like David Weprin would use 9-11 Healthcare money to try to get votes. His attacks are disgraceful. Of course Bob Turner supported the Zadroga Bill. It’s a reason why the bill’s author, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Pete King, Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani have all endorsed Bob Turner. And Turner’s son-in-law is a firefighter. David Weprin will stop at nothing to distract voters from what career politicians like him have done to this economy.”
Dems Use Zadroga Comment Against Turner (Updated)
Aug 24th - 4:03 pm
The Democrats are gleefully pouncing on GOP NY-9 candidate Bob Turner’s ill-timed comment to the DN editorial board that the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act is “too broad” and shouldn’t cover volunteers.
Turner was no doubt trying to come off as fiscally responsible, but you’ve got to wonder what he was thinking – particularly since the Sept. 13 special election comes just two days after the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Two of the Zadroga bill’s authors, Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Jerry Nadler, issued the following statement through Assemblyman David Weprin’s campaign:
“Bob Turner’s blatant disregard for the sacrifices made by volunteers in the aftermath of 9/11 is outrageous and offensive.”
“These brave men and women put themselves at risk to help their fellow New Yorkers and the very least we can do is to support them in their efforts to combat the injuries and illnesses sustained during their rescue efforts. Bob Turner has proven once and for all that he has no business representing New Yorkers in Congress.”
As you’ll recall, the former occupant of this seat, ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner, memorably ripped apart his GOP colleagues on the House floor when they voted against the Zadroga bill after attaching controverisal amendments to it that the Democrats opposed.
Weiner then sparred on national TV with Rep. Pete King, a Long Island Republican who also happened to be a Zadroga sponsor.
King endorsed Turner not long ago…wonder what he thinks of the candidate’s comments on this act?
Queens Dem Condemns Turner Mosque Ad, Demands Apology
Aug 12th - 12:17 pm
Assemblyman Michael DenDekker, a Queens Democrat who says he was a responder to Ground Zero on and after 9/11, released a statement today condemning GOP NY-9 candidate Bob Turner for using footage of the burning Twin Towners in his first campaign ad.
DenDekker accused Turner of not only employing what he deemed a “cheap campaign trick,” but also stooping to “a form of emotional manipulation that just isn’t appropriate on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in world history.”
“As a responder on and after 9/11, I was distressed to see how Mr. Turner and his campaign twisted the tragic events of that day to suit his own insensitive purposes,” DenDekker continued.
“I was attached to the New York City Office of Emergency Management, and I don’t remember seeing Bob Turner anywhere on 9/11 – but I do recall seeing scores of firefighters, police officers, first responders, and civilians all heroically working together to save lives without regard to their personal safety.”
DenDekker then turned Turner’s own words against him, calling for the businessman to practice the “personal responsibility” that he preaches by removing the “insensitive and embarrassing ad” from the airwaves and apologizing to everyone who lost someone on 9/11 as well as to first responders and civilians who are still struggling to recover from the horrific memories of that fateful day.
DenDekker is clearly acting as a surrogate here for Turner’s Democratic opponent, Assemblyman David Weprin, (who, for the record, I don’t believe rushed to Ground Zero on 9/11, either – but, then again, he’s not the one trying to exploit this issue for political gain).
Weprin also never said he supported construction of the so-called Ground Zero mosque, per se, but rather that he backed the right of the individuals behind the Park51 project to build wherever they wanted.
However, he also said he would prefer to see a “compromise” of the sort then-Gov. David Paterson was pushing, which would have resulted in a new site.
Much was written yesterday about whether it’s even wise for Turner to be resurrecting this whole mosque mess, since the undeniably polarizing issue didn’t work so well for last year’s GOP/Conservative gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio.
‘I Thought We Already Took Care Of This S@#T”
Jul 29th - 7:36 am
Jon Stewart is not amused.
You may recall how the host of “The Daily Show” pushed hard for the so-called Zadroga bill, dedicating an entire evening to championing the long-delayed legislation to provide ongoing health care to 9/11 workers.
And after the act was finally approved by Congress, Stewart hosted Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who was instrumental in its passage, for a little love fest.
So, it’s no surprise that Stewart was among those infuriated by the federal government’s decision that cancer is being excluded from the illnesses covered by the act, with experts insisting there’s no firm medical proof that first responders’s apparent higher incidence of the disease can indeed be linked to the time they spent at Ground Zero.
Stewart’s response in a nutshell: Proof, schmoof.
“The worst-case scenario here is we accidentally treated a 9/11 responder’s cancer, even though his cancer may not be proven to have its genesis on 9/11,” Stewart said. “How about everyone who worked down there on the pile gets a pass on the origin of their personal tumors?”
“So, if you’re someone who spent time on the pile, I don’t care if you ate 200 Sweet-n-Low packets a day sprinkled on your favorite cereal – Tumor-Os – while wearing a cellphone suit and smoking Chernobyl Lights – unfiltered – and making regular stops to your favorite snack joint, Agent Orange Julius. You get cancer, we cover it.”
Bloomberg: ‘We’re All A Target’
May 4th - 12:11 pm
ICYMI: Mayor Bloomberg appeared on the CBS News “Early Show” this morning to discuss President Obama’s visit to Ground Zero tomorrow.
He dodged the question about who will get to meet with Obama (the White House has been playing that pretty close to the vest so far), but did talk a little bit about security challenges at Ground Zero in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death.
“I think we’re all a target,” the mayor said. “We will provide the utmost security down at that site. We’ve been doing it for the last nine and a half years. We’ll continue to do that.”
“Commissioner (Ray) Kelly has this downtown security plan. It’s cameras. It’s technology that you don’t even know exists. It’s a lot of boots on the ground. We’ll continue to do that. But I think the danger here is that we think because one man is no longer alive, that the threat has gone away, and that’s not true.”
“The message of 9/11 and the message of 1993 when there was a bomb attack at the World Trade Center site is that our freedoms are constantly being threatened. And after 1993, we forgot. We learned nothing from that…I think so far, (after 9/11), we have not forgotten that lesson.”
Nadler, King, Maloney Seek 10th Anniversary 9/11 CODEL
Mar 31st - 2:05 pm
Here’s the letter from Reps. Jerry Nadler, Carolyn Maloney and Pete King to House Speaker John Boehner seeking an official CODEL – a special congressional delegation visit – that would bring all of their colleagues to NYC to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo are apparently on board with this idea, which the House members say would “send a strong message to the nation and the world that, 10 years later, we remain unified; that the spirit of New York City and the nation are strong and unshaken; that our commitment to freedom has never wavered; and that we will always honor and remember the victims, the first responders, survivors and their families.”
Zadroga Bill Signed Into Law
Jan 2nd - 3:58 pm
The Obama administration released the following statement this afternoon:
“On Sunday, January 2, 2011, the President signed into law: H.R. 847, the ‘James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act,’ which establishes the World Trade Center Health Program and extends and expands eligibility for compensation under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001.
Here’s a photo, compliments of the White House press office (as you can see, the president is still on vacation in Hawaii).
That was followed by a statements from various different NY pols who were key players in the long push to get this bill passed, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, who said:
After a long, arduous path with several near-defeats, this bill is finally law. The heroes who rushed to Ground Zero in the hours and days after the attacks will not be forgotten.”
“These first responders were like veterans, and this law keeps with a time-honored American tradition of standing by our veterans when they get harmed answering the call. We will begin work immediately to make sure this law gets renewed for another five years.”
…and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand:
“All Americans should be proud of this accomplishment. Our nation – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – all came together to do what was right and provide health care to the brave men and women who served with such heroism in the days and weeks following 9/11.”
“This was our undeniable moral obligation.”
“I commend President Obama for helping champion this effort and signing this bill into law. Today’s victory is for the first responders, fire fighters, police officers, every family and every volunteer who never gave up and made sure that Congress fulfilled its duty to the 9/11 heroes. We will always remember your sacrifice, and stand united behind you.”
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