9/11 Workers Outraged by New Rudy Claim
By Celest Katz
The New York Daily News
Friday 10 August 2007
Rudy Giuliani drew outrage and indignation from Sept. 11 first-
responders yesterday by saying he spent as much time - or more -
exposed to the site's dangers as workers who dug through the debris
for the missing and the dead.
Speaking to reporters at a Cincinnati Reds ballgame he caught
between fund-raisers, the GOP front-runner said he helped 9/11
families and defended himself against critics of how he managed the
attack's aftermath.
"This is not a mayor or a governor or a President who's sitting in
an ivory tower," Giuliani said. "I was at Ground Zero as often, if not
more, than most of the workers. I was there working with them. I was
exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that
sense, I'm one of them."
His statement rang false to Queens paramedic Marvin Bethea, who
said he suffered a stroke, posttraumatic stress disorder and breathing
problems after responding to the attacks.
"I personally find that very, very insulting," he said.
"Standing there doing a photo-op and telling the men, 'You're
doing a good job,' I don't consider that to be working," said Bethea,
47.
Ironworker Jonathan Sferazo, 52, who said he spent a month at the
site and is now disabled, runs a worker advocacy group with Bethea and
called Giuliani's comments "severely" out of line.
"He's not one of us. He never has been and he never will be. He
never served in a capacity where he was a responder," Sferazo said.
In the aftermath of the attacks, admirers dubbed Giuliani
"America's Mayor," praising his leadership in the face of an
unprecedented disaster. Detractors, including the International
Association of Fire Fighters, which put out a scathing 13-minute video
on his performance, suggested he profited politically and financially
from the attacks.
"[Giuliani] is self-absorbed, arrogant and deluded," said IAFF
spokesman Jeff Zack.
Responded Giuliani spokesman Michael McKeon, "Americans saw Rudy's
performance for themselves during the aftermath of 9/11 and will
dismiss this as the ridiculous and partisan rantings of a Democratic
front group, because that's what they are."
Giuliani backer Lee Ielpi, a retired firefighter who lost his son,
said no one's saying Giuliani dug through the rubble personally, but
that doesn't mean he wasn't exposed to toxins.
"For me to say I saw him every day [would] not be fair," said
Ielpi, who participated in the recovery effort for nine months. "But I
can say I did see the mayor there a large number of times, [trying] to
be as helpful and supportive as possible."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081007T.shtml
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