Why Not Bush?

Imagine this: you just typed www.iaff.org  into your web browser. Up pops a message that says, “The IAFF has just announced its support for a political candidate who proposed to eliminate funding for grants to local fire departments, who refused to provide federal funds to hire fire fighters in our most needy communities, whose policies were resulting in the closing of fire houses across America — and who was doing this while opening fire houses in Iraq.”

What would you think?

As elected IAFF leaders charged with representing the needs of professional fire fighters, we would have absolutely no business supporting a candidate with positions that so obviously harm the fire service and our members. You’d rightfully be upset if we supported such a candidate.

George W. Bush is the political candidate described above. It’s because President Bush has not supported us on our issues that the IAFF is not supporting him for president.

The fact is, since September 11, 2001, President Bush has proposed two budgets that eliminate funding for the FIRE Act, an important fire service community grant program, and now he refuses to fund the much-needed SAFER Act, which would assist in the hiring of 75,000 new fire fighters nationwide, while two-thirds of the nation’s fire departments remain understaffed.

Pages 11-12 of this issue of International Fire Fighter explore in further detail President Bush’s positions on fire fighter and first responder issues. I hope you will take the time to read through this important information.

I am honored and blessed to have been elected and entrusted with the awesome responsibility, as General President of the IAFF, of representing the needs of professional fire fighters. I take my responsibility to represent you very seriously.

In making the tough decisions about who to support in political elections, the IAFF Executive Board focuses solely on a candidate’s record of support on fire service and employment issues.

Issues of school prayer, right to life, the environment, or any other issues that are of great concern to the citizens of this country, including professional fire fighters, are not taken into consideration. Our job is to represent the needs of fire fighters and paramedics — period.

And even though President Bush stood with us on September 11 — in that famous photograph with his arm around a retired FDNY member at Ground Zero — his record of real action on first responder issues since that fateful day is a record of failure.

In fact, it was this record of failing first responders, despite his promises, that led me to object to President Bush using the images of fire fighters carrying one of their own out of Ground Zero, strictly for personal political gain in a campaign commercial.

To be clear, I did not object to President Bush putting forth his view of his leadership following the horrific events of September 11. As commander-in-chief, he stood with us on that day. And he has a right to talk about it.

But using the images of fire fighters carrying one of their own out of Ground Zero suggests that the president’s actions in the more than two years since September 11 have supported fire fighters. The reality is that he has failed us on our issues. And this is what I object to.

We trust our membership to evaluate all the issues and make your decisions on a candidate’s worthiness. We respect your right to form your own opinion about who to support for president of the United States, and the issues on which you base that support.

As elected IAFF leaders, it is our duty to support candidates who support fire fighters — regardless of political affiliation. That policy has led to our union being one of few that truly supports not just Democrats, but legislators on both sides of the political aisle — including Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Senator John McCain (R-AZ), and Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

In the case of the candidates for president of the United States this year, George W. Bush has a terrible record of support for our issues, while Senator John Kerry has a 100 percent record of supporting fire fighters. That is why the IAFF has endorsed John Kerry for president and not George W. Bush.

Click Here to Read President Schaitberger's Past Messages

[to top]