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IAFF FirePAC Educational - Treasury Labor union 1750 New York Avenue Washington, DC 20006 (Financial information for this committee was last updated on 8/9/2004) Total Contributions $0 Total Expenditures $2,586,416 Clicking on a year's total of "Amount Raised" or "Amount Spent" yields a tab-delimited text file of that year's contributions or expenditures, which can then be saved to your computer or opened in a text editor. Please note that larger amounts may take longer to download. Year Amount Raised Amount Spent 2000 $0 $699,067 2001 $0 $718,969 2002 $0 $791,710 2003 $0 $277,820 2004 $0 $98,850 In determining a committee's...

In September 2003, Harold Schaitberger announced that the International Association of Firefighters would be backing John Kerry in his bid for the Presidency of the United States. The IAFF was the first union to announce their support of any of the candidates. This was typical of Schaitberger's approach to political campaigns. The IAFF was one of the first unions to endorse Al Gore in the 2000 election. But how did the IAFF decide who they were going to support? Many in the public would believe that the members were given the opportunity to voice their opinion. Nothing could be further...

Dear Fire Fighters For Bush: Letter of the Week I was there when President Bush visited the "Pile" - soon to be the "Pit" - and just as we lifted the nation's spirit with our courage and sacrifice he lifted ours. I spent five months at the WTC - more time than Kerry spent in Vietnam - and for every miserable moment there I was comforted by his visit. If Kerry were president we would have spent a year wringing our hands and searching our souls trying to figure out what we did wrong to those who want to destroy...

This is an e-mail I received from the International Association of Firefighters. It is in response from a e-mail I sent to them regarding my displeasure with the posture they took regarding Bush using footage of firefighters at the WTC for campaign purposes. First, let me say that I do not object to President Bush putting forth his view of his leadership following the horrific events of 9/11. The picture of President Bush standing at Ground Zero with his arm draped around a retired FDNY fire fighter is forever seared in the minds of many Americans. As commander in chief,...

President Bush's campaign ads, which featured fleeting images of firemen removing the remains of victims from the attack on the World Trade Center, ignited a firestorm of criticism from the union representing New York firefighters. The president of the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), Harold Schaitberger, called the ads "disgraceful" and "disgusting," while the union's executive board passed a resolution accusing the President of "trading on the heroism of those 343 FDNY members who fell during the terrorist attacks . . . to win sympathy for his campaign." The union's complaints should come as no surprise since the IAFF was...

WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) -- Presumed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry told a conference of fire fighters Monday that he would take the steps necessary to protect the United States in the war on terror while fighting to fulfill the promises President Bush had broken. This administration has given our homeland security efforts short shrift, and you personally deserve better than that after the promises that have been made," he told attendees of the International Association of Fire Fighters' legislative conference. " ... After September 11th, President Bush went to New York, stood at Ground Zero, stood with our...

Firefighters for Bush On March 4, 2004, President Bush released the first television campaign ad of the season. It was a powerful, upbeat, forward-looking message of hope, containing images from his presidency and a vision of a better future. It was also attacked immediately in the press as "exploitative" because the President had included some brief images from 9/11 which featured the crumbled towers and weary firefighters. IAFF president Howard Schaitberger joined the attack, claiming that the President was trying to "capitalize on the image of great heroics and a great tragedy." But other firefighters, incensed at the IAFF's statements,...

When, in the future, the Bush campaign is “using firefighters for their photo op,” the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) “will loudly and aggressively” make known the administration’s cuts to federal funds for first responders, Harold Schaitberger, the group’s general president, told The Hill. Schaitberger, responding to a controversial campaign ad featuring fire fighters, said President Bush has “the right to focus on his performance and leadership during a catastrophic and disastrous day.” But he added that the use of images in the ad, “by any candidate, for any reason, is unacceptable,” especially for “partisan, purely political reasons.” Sen....