Last night while I was out with friends the topic of Presidential aspirants came up and we were discussing the Republican side. I believe there is no clear cut candidate that has the muster to claim the nomination as of yet. When someone mentioned Giuliani's surge in the polls and his "America's Mayor" persona, I went into a tirade on our former mayor. Basically I trashed him over 9/11. The Onion did a spoof that he was running for the President for 9/11, but if that 'country' was informed, no one would vote for him. Why is that you ask? Well let me tell you.
Before September 11, 2001 Giuliani was not a popular mayor. He had nicknames floating around the city such as 'Hitler on the Hudson' and the 'Mussolini of Manhattan.' He was known for lashing out at people and the fact that his second wife (the first wife was a 2nd cousin of his) took a restraining order out on him (So that his girlfriend could not come to Gracie Mansion) is absolutely disgusting. Besides the family life and his reputation, what he did to the NYPD and FDNY was beyond atrocious. Many of our city's finest died in those towers due to the fact that communication between the departments was non-existant. The radios that they used did not work between the NYPD and FDNY despite calls to the mayor to have the problem fixed. The result was that while the NYPD knew to evacuate, the FDNY did not.
Even after the disaster, firefighters were further enraged because he limited rescue workers from finding their fallen comrades, cutting the number of searchers from 300 to 25. Due to that, many that died were treated as garbage and their remains hauled off to Fresh Kills Landfill, leaving their families with no remains to bury, leaving their emotional wounds open for a long time.
Well the firefighters are getting their revenge on Rudy. At a recent convention of the IAFF union, organizers invited all the Presidential candidates except for Giuliani. They explained their decision based on the wishes of the two unions here in New York City's request to shun him.
From RawStory:
We made this decision after considerable soul-searching and close consultation with our two New York City affiliates, the Uniformed Firefighters Association Local 94 and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association Local 854, as well as our former Local 94 President and current IAFF 1st District Vice President covering New York.The IAFF recognizes that Mayor Giuliani generally enjoys a favorable reputation as a result of his actions immediately after the tragedy of 9/11. As such, we want our affiliates and every one of our members to clearly understand the reason and rationale behind this very serious and sober decision.
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.
I agree that people need to know the real Rudy and this is part of who he is. This is part of his story. I have a hunch that with his current 'front-runner' status, plenty more will come to the surface for all to see.
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