The firefighters’ union says Giuliani gave expedited redevelopment priority over the search for the remains of the fallen. Bad Mayor! No endorsement!
This should make for a nice 30-second spot.
The firefighters wanted to carefully search the rubble at Ground Zero for the bodies of the firefighters who had died on 9/11. But the developer was in a hurry to start the redevelopment process. So, once the Bank of Nova Scotia’s gold bars had been recovered, Giuliani ordered that the remaining rubble — including whatever bodies were still there — scooped up and taken to a landfill. When firefighters held a protest, he ordered them arrested.
Am I confident the firefighters’ union is telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the incident? No. But I look forward to several news cycles’ worth of assertion and denial.
Update Well, the Giuliani camp is helping. They managed to invent a group called “Firefighters for Rudy,” whose “Executive Director” is a Giuliani campaign staffer. I wonder whether the press minds getting snookered this way? I would, in their shoes.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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