"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. - New York Daily
News
Battalion Chief John McDonnell, head of the Uniformed Fire Officers
Association in New York, said: 'I have a real problem with that statement. I
think he's really grasping and trying to justify his previous attempts to
portray himself as the hero of 9-11.'
Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives Endowment Association, the union
of NYPD detectives, said the mayor's record can't compare to those who spent 12
months sifting through toxic debris for evidence and human remains.
'As a result of their hard work, many are sick and injured. The mayor,
although he did a fine job with 9-11, I don't think he rises to the level of
being an equal with those men and women who were involved in the rescue,
recovery and cleanup,' Palladino said. - "
His comments that he was one of them was the wrong thing to say. He doesn't share the medical problems that many of the people who worked down there did. Even if he had shared those problems, he would have been able to get top notch treatment, which many of the responders have not been able to. He has backed down from his statement, but it damaged him, and you can't take that away.
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