9-11 families hope to deflate Giuliani's heroic image

McClatchy Washington Bureau ^ | November 16, 2007 | William Douglas

[Graybeard58]

WASHINGTON — Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign was supposed to be toast by now, imploded by his hot temper, autocratic ways, tumultuous personal life and moderate views on social issues, which would turn off traditional Republican voters once they got to know the "Real Rudy."

Or so many of Giuliani's critics thought.

Instead, he remains atop the Republican presidential pack in national polls, powered in large part by his image as the steely hero who guided New York through the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

A small but vocal group of New Yorkers will try to puncture that image Monday when they host a town hall meeting at New Hampshire's Dartmouth College to discuss New York's disaster-preparedness under Giuliani before 9-11.

They say that Giuliani's administration failed to address firefighters' radio communication problems, which first surfaced in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; didn't provide proper equipment for rescue workers at Ground Zero; and showed poor judgment by putting the city's $13 million emergency center on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the attack.

They claim that Giuliani was callous in November 2001 when he limited the number of firefighters searching Ground Zero for the remains of nearly 300 fallen comrades. They also accuse him of expediting the cleanup of the site and sending rubble mixed with human body parts to a Staten Island landfill.

"He's portraying himself as a false hero of 9-11,"said Sally Reganhard, whose son, Christian Reganhard, was a probationary firefighter who was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. "He's not talking about the story of the failure of his administration, and that has to be told, because we have to protect this country."

Monday's event in a small auditorium on the Dartmouth campus, hosted by a group called 9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters, is one of the few attempts to challenge Giuliani's main campaign narrative, which he's controlled successfully thus far.

If it's successful, members of the organizing group said, they hope to take their story about Giuliani nationwide to counter what they say is an untrue narrative he's presenting on the campaign trail.

Criticizing Giuliani over Sept. 11 may prove to be a daunting task. Campaign experts say he's turned his 9-11 image into almost a trademark that makes him easily identifiable and likable to voters. His Republican presidential rivals have shied away from questioning his credentials on terrorism and national security and instead acknowledge him as a hero and "America's mayor."

"It was a big event, and his role was so big, it's been seared into people's memory," said Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire. "The attempts to criticize Giuliani over Sept. 11 have either been small enterprises or very hesitant."

Democratic presidential candidates seem more willing lately to try to pierce Giuliani's Sept. 11 mystique.

"Rudy Giuliani, there's only three things he mentions in a sentence," Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., said last month during a Democratic presidential debate. "A noun, a verb and 9-11."

Still, Giuliani's handling of Sept. 11 gives him a certain amount of celebrity status on the campaign trail, where enthusiastic supporters bring copies of his book, "Leadership," or copies of newspaper front pages from the day after the attacks for him to autograph.

"He's created a persona that's different than the operating style when he was mayor of New York, (one) that is larger than life," Hank Sheinkopf, a New York Democratic political consultant, said of Giuliani's campaign. "Heroes are harder to 'get' to in the first place. Heroes have to do less explaining. They just have to show up, smile and not be annoying."

Sheinkopf said Giuliani's campaign moved quickly to protect his 9-11 image, mindful that the slow response of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to the $22 million Swift boat ad campaign attacking his Vietnam War record helped doom Kerry's 2004 presidential bid.

When Jerome Hauer, Giuliani's former emergency chief, said last May that the mayor was responsible for locating the emergency center in the World Trade Center, Giuliani swiftly went on Fox News Sunday and said that Hauer had "recommended that as the prime site and the site that would make the most sense."

Giuliani's campaign has responded only mildly so far to the organizers of the Dartmouth event. It issued a statement from Lee Ielpi, a former New York City firefighter whose son was killed on 9-11.

"I understand the emotion surrounding September 11th, but we cannot lose sight of the fact that it was the terrorists who attacked New York City," Ielpi said in the statement. "On that day and the days following, New Yorkers and the rest of the country were fortunate to have the steady and strong leadership of Mayor Rudy Giuliani."

Jimmy Riches, a New York deputy fire chief whose firefighter son, Jimmy Riches, Jr., died at the World Trade Center, hopes that the 9/11 Parents & Families of Firefighters event will lead to a Swift boat-like campaign against Giuliani.

"We're not going to let it go," Riches said. "We're thinking of setting up one of those 527 funds to tell the story of what happened and let the people decide who they want to vote for."

[weegee]

They claim that Giuliani was callous in November 2001 when he limited the number of firefighters searching Ground Zero for the remains of nearly 300 fallen comrades.

The attacks occurred on September 11th. By November any survivors were already dead. Increasing the number of firefighters would've done what? Exposed more firefighters to the toxic winds at Ground Zero?

I don't see how this will tarnish him.

[Cicero]

I do not support Giuliani, but I think this group needs to be viewed with caution.

[MCCRon58]

“”They say that Giuliani’s administration failed to address firefighters’ radio communication problems, which first surfaced in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; didn’t provide proper equipment for rescue workers at Ground Zero; and showed poor judgment by putting the city’s $13 million emergency center on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the attack””

So, by using the great liberal skill of hindsight, we see that Rudy wasn’t prescient. Now there is a crime. I think that this group would find fault with anyone who didn’t have a (D) after their name.

[Brad from Tennessee]

If the emotional component of 9/11 is removed, which a big city mayor might be forced to do, the risks of keeping large numbers of firemen at ground zero became increasingly risky. Every day after the attacks the dimensions of the health dangers at the site multiplied as various agencies kept giving graver assessments. Many of these firefighters had already been exposed during the attack when airborne toxins were at the highest level. The city, its insurance carriers, and its taxpayers suddenly owned a huge legal liability.

The attack of the World Trade Center was the biggest disaster–bigger in dollars than Hurricanes Andrew or Katrina–in U.S. history. At the time the estimates were running to $100 billion. Nobody will ever know for sure. Some of the densest blocks of city tax revenue just vanished. Besides the dead, tens of thousands people suddenly were jobless. Before 9-11 New York City, like much of the country, was in an economic downturn. The city was preparing cutbacks in municipal services. After 9-11 Bush promised $20 billion but then began to waffle. Guiliani had to make hard decisions every day from September 11, until he left office. Those daily decisions were weighed on a range of factors that would confound the strongest, most capable men. Not all the decisions were right. Maybe David Dinkins would have done better.

[I see my hands]

Birds of a feather flock together.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Another pro-Rudy puff piece. Blech!

Rudy's nominated = 3rd party

"LA-LA-LA-LA, I DON'T CARE IF HILLARY WINS, LA-LA-LA-LA..."

[jimboster]

How come this isn’t considered “swift boating”?

[Leisler]

By making a settlement offer now, the city is trying to buy people off with money and not accept responsibility for the tragic mistakes of the Giuliani administration and Federal Government. No one has the right to lie to their constituents. The terrorists killed 2,749 heroes on 9/11, but the lies and failures of government will likely kill and destroy the quality of life for many more.

I lay in a coma with respiratory failure (ARDS) in 2005 for 16 days and miraculously survived. Medications are now part of my daily life and will be forever. Many sick construction workers and volunteers now have to decide between food on the table for their families or medications. The toll of sickness on the first-responders hasn't seen its full disastrous effects yet.

I do not intend to let this happen to anyone ever again. The Federal Government and the Giuliani administration must be held accountable for their lies about quality of air and failure to provide life-saving respirators to those who heroically risked their life and health. Money is not my issue..

Jimmy Riches

[Leisler]

He’s blamed because the FD wouldn’t get off the pile, and he’s blamed for them being on the pile, and then ordering off the pile, and then agreeing to 75 per shift being on the pile.

[Leisler]

We always have 3rd parties, fourth and fifth too.

[Graybeard58]

I have considered myself a Republican all of my adult life. If Rudy is the nominee, the Republican party will have left me.

Rudy is as liberal as they come. I do not vote for liberals.

[codercpc]

I distinctly remember watching all of the news I could in the days and weeks following 9-11, and one thing I recall is the interviews with the heros that were searching ground zero. Multiple times the reporters would ask these brave men and women about their fears of the dust, without fail each and everyone of them basically said it would not matter what the "air quality" was, they were staying. Many of these were not even wearing the dust masks that were in vast supply.

For them to come back now, and blame one man for their decisions back then is cowardly, or political. Take your pick.

Someone should get the names of the spokespeople at Mondays press conference, and I bet their political donations, in the past, will lead you to Hillary, or some union that has endorsed a Dem candidate.

[Doogle]

when they host a town hall meeting at New Hampshire's Dartmouth College to discuss New York's disaster-preparedness under Giuliani before 9-11.

..and if the rapist had b**** OBL would have been dead

[Gondring]

So, by using the great liberal skill of hindsight, we see that Rudy wasn’t prescient.

So, in your universe, 1993 came after 2001...?!?

[adopt4Christ]

I agree with you — BUT...

If Hillary is on the ballot, then ALL OF US MUST vote for the “other guy”. She must be stopped — no matter what.

That’s my opinion..hope it is shared..

[Retired Chemist]

The firefighters’ union has been pounding Giuliani every since he imposed the limit.

[Alberta's Child]

Instead, he remains atop the Republican presidential pack in national polls, powered in large part by his image as the steely hero who guided New York through the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Actually, he remains atop a large Republican pack with the support of about 25% of the GOP voters -- which is pretty much where's he's been all along and won't be much different than what he'd get in any national election.

[LukeL]

There are only so many frequencies that a radio can operate on based upon the electromagnetic spectrum, and FCC laws which limit what bandwith you can use.

With millions of people in the city and dozens of different fire, police and rescue companies it becomes nearly immposible to have 100% perfect communication.

[Brad from Tennessee]

Yeah. Plenty of conservatives have reasons for opposing Rudy without resorting to the talking points of union bosses and Democrat front groups.

[Alberta's Child]

So, by using the great liberal skill of hindsight, we see that Rudy wasn’t prescient . . .

It actually has nothing to do with "hindsight" at all. The city was absolutely derelict in its duty to protect its emergency workers on both of the key points mentioned in your post. The fact that the World Trade Center had been targeted already in 1993 -- and remained the top terrorist target in NYC after that -- means it shouldn't have taken any hindsight to deal with these issues.

[Sun]

‘”They say that Giuliani’s administration failed to address firefighters’ radio communication problems, which first surfaced in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; didn’t provide proper equipment for rescue workers at Ground Zero; and showed poor judgment by putting the city’s $13 million emergency center on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the attack.

They claim that Giuliani was callous in November 2001 when he limited the number of firefighters searching Ground Zero for the remains of nearly 300 fallen comrades. They also accuse him of expediting the cleanup of the site and sending rubble mixed with human body parts to a Staten Island landfill.

“He’s portraying himself as a false hero of 9-11,”said Sally Reganhard, whose son, Christian Reganhard, was a probationary firefighter who was killed at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. “He’s not talking about the story of the failure of his administration, and that has to be told, because we have to protect this country.”’

The REAL heros were the fire fighters and police officers.

[Leisler]

Um, aren’t the firemen and police represented by unions who bargain for their working conditions and pay? So that what pay, benefits, care and equipment are the fruits of their unions bargaining with the city? I feel pretty confident that given money spent on equipment or in salary, the union has taken he money every time.

Wasn’t and isn’t the NYFD considered the best equipped in the country? I buy a lot of building material that says it meets or exceeds standards set by the NYFD. So the department even sets the standards for building material safety nation wide.

A lot of NY cops like to go over to the FD because of the increase in pay. They are well paid. Further, I am curious how many members went out and bought their own breathing devices? I doubt a single one. What does that tell me about the importance of that issue?

[toomuchcoffee]

“I do not vote for liberals.”

If you don’t vote for the republican nominee, you wil, by default, vote liberal.

[angcat]

I’m not a Rudy supporter but I think he did the best he could on that day. He was not prepared the whole dam country was not prepared. We could have been nuked that day!

[Jim Robinson]

If the GOP goes liberal, I'm no longer a GOPer.

I did not leave the party, it left me. -- Ronald Reagan

[abercrombie_guy_38]

(1) They say that Giuliani’s administration failed to address firefighters’ radio communication problems, which first surfaced in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; (2)didn’t provide proper equipment for rescue workers at Ground Zero; (3) and showed poor judgment by putting the city’s $13 million emergency center on the 23rd floor of 7 World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the attack.

(4) They claim that Giuliani was callous in November 2001 when he limited the number of firefighters searching Ground Zero for the remains of nearly 300 fallen comrades. (5) They also accuse him of expediting the cleanup of the site and sending rubble mixed with human body parts to a Staten Island landfill.

---

1) Valid claim

2) What is “proper equipment?” Define it. Otherwise, you’re blowing smoke.

3) Doesn’t seem like bad judgement. 7 WTC wasn’t the tallest building in the city, wasn’t a target, and was away from Midtown, which is a portion of the city that I (and probably others) would have thought would have been hit by terrorists before Downtown.

4) He limited the number of firefighters who could search for their brothers for a variety of reasons. Two that come to my mind: a) firefighters are needed elsewhere in the city to fight fighers...others were more than willing to look for remains at GZ, b) they should be thankful that there are not more firefighters battling disease now from breathing in all that crap

5) Expediting cleanup would help clean the air quicker and not every pulverized piece of human remains is going to be found. I can guarantee that.

[abigkahuna]

I am not a republican, but an independent conservative. Rudy is not my candidate, but in the coming general election, I will be looking at the candidate that will best push my agenda, uphold the Constitution and other factors.

That aside, in those dark hours after the 9-11 attacks, American needed heroes and need them quickly. Rudy, just by standing there, fit the bill immediately. For better or worse Rudy instantly became America's Mayor, a man on the move appearing to be doing SOMETHING, in the face of such an attack.

History and "greatness" to paraphrase Malvolio in Shakespeare's 12th Night, had been thrust upon him. What was he do do? RUn and hide from the praise being heaped upon him during those days? Those were national political chips to be cashed in at a later date. Rudy is now cashing in those chips.

Did Rudy make mistakes pre and post 9-11, certainly. ALL of government did. Its run by people and people screw up, etc...

This is such an obvious political "hit job" that you have to wonder rwho is behind it? Hillary? Mitt? Obama? Hunter? Anyone in opposition to Rudy's campaign is suspect. It will be a very interesting political season.

[pawdoggie]

Another pro-Rudy puff piece. Blech! Rudy's nominated = 3rd party "LA-LA-LA-LA, I DON'T CARE IF HILLARY WINS, LA-LA-LA-LA..."

A "pro-Rudy puff piece"? Did you actually read the article? BTW, instead of talking about forming a third party, why don't you just pull the trigger AND DO IT (and see how far it gets you)? It's highly unlikely that the GOP is going to nominate someone who's "extremely" conservative enough for the likes of you (and your ilk), so let's just assume you're gonna do your bit for the Hillary campaign: stay home, or vote third party; because I'm tired of reading your gas.

[Alberta's Child]

You will never hear me complain about the Giuliani administration with regard to any decisions that were made about staffing levels of NY rescue/recovery personnel at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11. In fact, that whole angle of the story illustrates just how dysfunctional New York City is -- and why nobody who has ever held any leadership position there (and by this I mean government, labor, or private industry) should even be considered for an important role in the U.S. government.

The Giuliani should DEFINITELY be held accountable for two particular issues related to 9/11 -- and these involve decisions that were (or weren't) made after the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center . . . (1) the decision to locate the emergency command center in 7 WTC, and (2) the failure to address radio communication problems between the NYPD and NYFD.

[marsh2]

My issues are small government, local control, protection of individual rights (liberty,) protection of the integrity of property rights, pulling back regulation to only those needed to protect public health and safety and using incentives to accomplish public goals, a sane environmental policy that recognizes the need for natural resource use and respects the economy and cultures that have developed around them. I also am concerned that the culture of my European forefathers that formed the foundation of American law, ethics, morality and culture is being politically targeted for destruction.

Hilary and Rudy are identical on these issues and I would not vote for either one. I fancy Fred who understands that federalism and republicanism is the backbone of the constitutional frame that supports all the issues I truly care about. I know that he would align with Scalia and Thomas in reducing the expansion of the Commerce Clause and the centralization of regulation over our daily lives.

[MCCRon58]

If republicans and conservatives stay hoe because Rudi is the nominee, then we deserve to lose the country, for we will have proven ourselves too spoiled and self centered to keep that which so many of our better predecessors fought and died for.

In every election, you may not have someone whom you can support whole heartedly, but you will always find someone to vote against.

[Leisler]

Post 9/11, I believe, it has taken 3 years to come up with a new system, that still doesn’t work. I am under the impression that no system can work under all circumstances.

When I was in the Army at Ft. Bragg, we couldn’t transmit to units in line of sight, yet we would receive Cuban fishing boats.

I remember one day tagging along with the commo guys to a pre deployment briefing given by a Warrant Officer, basically he told them about atmospheric conditions and when it wouldn’t be possible to transmit. Mind you these were radio MOS guys, trained. I would help them in the field set up their antennas. And still there were problems. The one thing I learned is radios are only as good as their antennas.

So, what the, frankly, radio idiot firemen want, is a low size battery, with long life, near nigh useless antenna, that can handle, in this case, hundreds of similainus calls at the same time on the same frequencies, from all directions and through steel and concret. Good luck to them.

NY is a lefty city. The mass of citizens are dripping with feelings of entiltlemt, resentment, victimization and projection. My experience with government is that the operating principle is to amass power and distribute blame. The firemen are free will actors. They are the ones who should of known, if only for their own safety. They are professionals, educated and in a union. I don't know what to tell them. The notion that a lawyer politician would or could make any good decision on radios is ludicrous.

[Alberta's Child]

If republicans and conservatives stay hoe because Rudi is the nominee, then we deserve to lose the country, for we will have proven ourselves too spoiled and self centered to keep that which so many of our better predecessors fought and died for.

If the 2008 presidential election ends up being a contest between two candidates with well-documented track records as big-government leftists, then there's no "country" to lose. If our "better predecessors" could have foreseen this scenario, then I suspect they never would have bothered fighting and dying in the first place.

In every election, you may not have someone whom you can support whole heartedly, but you will always find someone to vote against.

I agree with you 100%. And I'll vote against BOTH the Republican and Democratic candidates, if necessary.

[Alberta's Child]

I have no sympathy for the firefighters here. As someone else pointed out earlier on this thread, this union is so f#%&ed up that they first criticized the Giuliani administration for removing many of the firefighters from Ground Zero after 9/11, then they criticized them for -- well, for letting any firefighters work there at all.

I agree with your sentiment that New York is a "lefty city." Unfortunately for Rudy Giuliani's presidential aspirations, he was very much a part of that "lefty city" for nearly his entire career. So this country would do well to keep that limp-wristed lawyer and his New York City leftism as far away from the White House as possible.

[MCCRon58]

“””If the 2008 presidential election ends up being a contest between two candidates with well-documented track records as big-government leftists, then there’s no “country” to lose.”””

be careful what you wish for, as you just might get it.