The Magazine

Do We Need More Firefighters?

Why John Kerry lights their fire.

Apr 12, 2004, Vol. 9, No. 30 • By ELI LEHRER
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FIREFIGHTERS love John Kerry, and the Massachusetts senator loves them back. The International Association of Firefighters endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee in September 2003, when other unions had flocked to Howard Dean's banner. When the Bush campaign aired commercials featuring glimpses of 9/11 firefighters, IAFF president Harold Schaitberger declared that his organization would go after Bush "loudly and aggressively" for this "exploitation." While firefighters' financial resources can't come close to matching those of industrial unions or larger government unions, they provide an important source of campaign labor. Because they may work as few as 4 days out of 14, professional firefighters have ample time to canvass, hand out literature, and man the polls. They played a key role in allowing Kerry's more modestly funded campaign to match Dean's Iowa operation.

Schaitberger and his members have every reason to support Kerry. The senator, long a supporter of increased federal funding for fire services, promises IAFF and its comrades-in-arms a federal bonanza if he wins the election: grants to hire 100,000 more professional firefighters across the country, more funding for equipment and training, regulations that would make it easier for firefighters to qualify for disability, and extra money for local emergency planning. It's no coincidence that Kerry appeared before the firefighters' annual convention in mid-March to deliver his first major address on homeland security.

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