Firefighters look to back Dem, ‘hammer’ Giuliani

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is set to endorse a presidential candidate by the end of September — one of the first major endorsements of the 2008 cycle — and IAFF President Harold Schaitberger said it’s a “safe bet” the union will back a Democrat.

In an interview with The Hill from the AFL-CIO forum in Chicago, Schaitberger declined to speculate on which of the Democratic hopefuls the IAFF will endorse on or before Sept. 24, but emphasized that front-runner status is not necessarily a prerequisite or even helpful to getting the nod.

{mosads}Schaitberger said one of the so-called lower-tier candidates could win the group’s prized endorsement as easily as either Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

“We’ve never had a history of looking at front-runners any more or less than the other candidates,” Schaitberger said. “It could as easily be a [Sen.] Chris Dodd, who has a 26-year track record with us. All of our candidates have varying levels of experience with us and track records with us.”

Schaitberger said he is not concerned about the IAFF backing a candidate that could flame out before the early states start voting.

“We’re not known to take a safe road, and we’re not known to stand on the sidelines and watch the game be played,” he said.
“Going in early and going in hard is what works for us.”

Schaitberger said all the Republican candidates appeared to be out of the running, since they stopped pursuing the endorsement by skipping events such as the state leaders’ council in New Hampshire.

Schaitberger met with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) a little more than a month ago for dinner, but he said there has been no follow-up.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) has been an IAFF target this year, but not for endorsement purposes.

The union has put Giuliani squarely in its crosshairs, releasing letters and videos to its members decrying what it sees as shameful actions before, during and after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Schaitberger said that even after the IAFF endorses a candidate, it will “continue to hammer pretty hard on that one candidate.”

That the IAFF already is saying it will back a Democrat could lend credence to the Giuliani campaign’s claims that the IAFF is led by partisan interests.

But Schaitberger said Giuliani is an “exception,” as the union historically has devoted its resources to promoting its candidate, not going negative on an opponent.

Schaitberger began meeting with both Republican and Democratic candidates at the beginning of the year leading up to the IAFF presidential forum in mid-March.

Since then, Schaitberger has met with 29 of 50 state councils — he is hoping to get to at least 40 — conducted one internal poll with one to go later this month, had countless dinners and breakfasts with the candidates and held another candidate forum in New Hampshire for his state leaders.

Those events, combined with Tuesday night’s AFL-CIO forum and a couple more to come in the next six weeks, will provide the 16 members of the executive board with the membership’s wishes.

Those 16 will then seek a “near-unanimous” decision in endorsing a candidate.

The president of the New Hampshire chapter, David Lang, said his members have been doing their own research, and they will be ready to go to work for whichever candidate the national leadership backs.

“Our guys up here are doing like they always do, and that’s wait until basically the orders come from above,” Lang said.

Lang said his members have been doing everything from playing basketball with Obama to having beers with Dodd.

“New Hampshire firefighters take their role very seriously,” Lang said. “They’re in tune, engaged and involved.”