By Glenn Thrush
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2007 Newsday, Inc.
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton was given a hero’s welcome by the national firefighters’ union yesterday, while Rudolph Giuliani was jeered in absentia for clearing rescuers from the smoldering pile at Ground Zero five years ago.
Clinton, speaking at a presidential forum sponsored by the International Association of Fire Fighters, highlighted her work on firefighters’ post-Sept. 11 health problems and chided the Bush administration for failing to fund programs for first responders adequately.
She needled the union for endorsing her Republican foe in 2000, but thanked them for backing her re-election to the Senate in 2006.
“You were there when we needed you and I want you to know I will be there when you need me,” said Clinton, who was interrupted a half-dozen times by applause.
The union hasn’t endorsed anyone for 2008; it backed John Kerry in the 2004 general election. All major candidates in both parties, except GOP front-runner Giuliani, trekked to the Hyatt on Capitol Hill.
Last week, union officials circulated a letter saying Giuliani wasn’t welcome. Many city firefighters haven’t forgiven the former mayor for his November 2001 decision to stop hundreds of firefighters from combing Ground Zero for bodies.
“I’m glad he’s not here,” said Jim Ennis, 51, a three-decade veteran of the Syracuse Fire Department. “He said everything he needed to say to us in 2001 when he ordered everybody off of the pile. For him, it came down to dollars, not dignity. “
George Fress, a 35-year veteran of the Houston Fire Department, said some union members had talked about turning their backs if Giuliani came. “He would have been interesting to hear, but there’s no way he could have come,” said Fress, 53.
Lee Ielpi of Great Neck, a former city firefighter whose son Jonathan, 29, died at the trade center, said union officials failed to tell members that Giuliani eventually allowed many firefighters back on the site.
“It’s not fair to write a letter and to make accusations that are half-true, out-and-out lies and half-sentences,” he said.
Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was received politely, but with less enthusiasm that Clinton.
Obama spoke caustically of Republicans, accusing them of talking patriotically while underfunding veterans’ health care and soldiers’ body armor.
“They say the words with a preacher’s ease,” he said. “But ... they don’t do anything except slap a yellow ribbon on the back of their SUV.”
Clinton, who is close to the union’s leaders, struck a less confrontational, more conversational tone, talking about her Sept. 12 trip to Ground Zero. “I could barely see anything,” she said. “The dark cloud was thick. But I could smell it, I could taste it, I could feel it.”