|
November 9, 2007
Razzle Dazzle:
Mayor Trips Over Pedestal
By RICHARD STEIER
Pat Lynch was trying to breathe fresh life
into his arguments for why Patrolmen's Benevolent Association members
deserve far more money than other uniformed employees have gotten
from the Bloomberg administration, offering a less-insulting variation
on the outrage voiced by one of his predecessors that Sanitation
Workers could earn more money than cops.
His heart was clearly in his words during
the Oct. 30 press conference at the PBA's lower Manhattan headquarters,
but too many previous recitations of the same facts had robbed
him of spontaneity and passion about the subject.
That became clear when he began talking about a late addition
to the union's agenda, courtesy of Mayor Bloomberg's ill-considered
remarks a day earlier questioning the heroism of Det. James Zadroga
and whether his death at age 34 last year was due to the 450 hours
he had spent working at Ground Zero following the World Trade Center's
destruction.
'Being There Makes Him a Hero'
Emotion positively radiated from the PBA leader as he decried "probably
one of the most insulting statements I have ever heard against
a New York City police officer. Just the fact that that police
officer went to that site makes him a hero."
Mr. Bloomberg's questioning of that
belief, based on Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch's conclusion
that Mr. Zadroga's death was caused by injecting prescription medications
into his system rather than the toxic chemicals he inhaled at Ground
Zero, was "embarrassing
for the NYPD, and it's an embarrassment for City Hall," Mr.
Lynch thundered. "This Mayor owes an apology to every New
York City police officer. Owes an apology to that family."
Referring to the city's defense against a pending civil suit brought
by Mr. Zadroga's parents, he continued, "To take a litigation
stance, to save money for the city, just goes to show that this
is a millionaire - a billionaire - that doesn't care. The Mayor
is out of touch."
At virtually the same time, Mr. Bloomberg was in Brooklyn trying
to repair some of the damage he had done the previous day with
his remarks while accepting an award from the Harvard School of
Public Health.
During the Harvard appearance, the Mayor, in trying to make the point
that scientific findings were not always popular, cited the outcry
that followed Dr. Hirsch's ruling in the Zadroga case, which contradicted
the conclusion of an Ocean County, N.J. ME in April 2006.
The Mayor said that Dr. Hirsch concluded that rather than taking
his pills orally, Detective Zadroga "was injecting them into
his veins ... Nobody wanted to hear that. We wanted to have a hero.
There are plenty of heroes. It's just in this case, the science
says this was not a hero."
Those remarks were characterized as "a disgrace" by
Mr. Zadroga's father, Joseph. And while it was not surprising that
they incurred the outrage of Mr. Lynch and Detectives' Endowment
Association President Mike Palladino, who called them "insensitive,
to say the least," some of the Mayor's strongest supporters
also questioned his judgment.
'Unnecessary and Impolitic'
One of them, speaking conditioned on anonymity, said that while
Mr. Bloomberg may have been trying to defend Dr. Hirsch against
what he perceived as an unfair attack, it "was unnecessary
and impolitic" to do so by questioning Detective Zadroga's
heroism.
The Mayor had clearly figured that out by the time he told reporters
in Brooklyn, "This was a great NYPD officer who dedicated
himself - put his life in harm's way hundreds of times during his
career - and you can use your own definition. It's a question of
how you want to define what a hero is, and certainly I did not
mean to hurt the family or impugn his reputation."
But that last clause about not wanting to hurt or impugn amounted
to weasel words from a man who generally gets high marks for candor
and is not known for apologies along the lines of, "I'm sorry
if my remarks offended anyone." The effect of Mr. Bloomberg's
comments at Harvard had been to suggest that not only had Mr. Zadroga
tainted his career but that there was something impure about seeking
to have him included as a casualty of 9/11.
Even if Dr. Hirsch's theory about the death was on the money -
something that can't be said with any medical certainty - Mr. Bloomberg's
comments would be of questionable taste.
As Hank Sheinkopf, an ex-cop who's a political consultant, put
it, "It's hard to say that anybody who served at Ground Zero
in any way, shape or form is not a hero."
So then why did the Mayor say it?
"Because he believes it," Mr. Sheinkopf replied. "I
think what Bloomberg was trying to do was define what heroism at
Ground Zero was, and he seemed to be saying that the heroes were
the ones who didn't die with drugs in their systems."
'Mayors Slip Sometimes'
That seems to be a peculiarly rigid standard on a couple of counts.
There is no disputing the fact that Detective Zadroga logged long
hours at Ground Zero and developed severe respiratory ailments
as a result. And can anyone imagine Mr. Bloomberg - who during
the 2001 mayoral campaign spoke with gusto about experimenting
with pot in his youth - venting his spleen against a cancer patient
smoking marijuana to ease her pain because it is, after all, against
the law?
"A Mayor comments on a million things, and once in a while
they slip up," said George Arzt, a political consultant
who was Mayor Ed Koch's Press Secretary when he appointed Dr. Hirsch
to be the Chief ME 19 years ago.
"They're tough comments concerning the family," he said
of Mr. Bloomberg's statements. "Obviously his remarks were
too strong. But Hirsch is a superb ME, and any Mayor would be wise
to support him."
Mr. Palladino argued that if the intent was to stand by one of
those who works for him, Mr. Bloomberg did it in the clumsiest
way possible, and with no thought for a larger contingent of his
employees.
'Insulted All of Us'
"The Mayor successfully, with one comment, alienated his
entire police force," he asserted. "He insulted the families
of first-responders who made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as
the first-responders."
Mr. Arzt took issue with claims by the police union leaders that
Dr. Hirsch tailored his diagnosis to political pressure applied
by City Hall as it girds for a raft of wrongful death lawsuits
predicated on the Giuliani administration not being honest about
the toxins at Ground Zero or supplying adequate protection to those
who were involved in the recovery efforts there.
Mr. Palladino contended, however, that Detective Zadroga had been
a stone in Mr. Bloomberg's shoe since his death in January 2006
became the driving force behind the bills signed into law that
August by then-Governor Pataki granting a presumptive disability
pension and death benefits to those first-responders who toiled
at Ground Zero and subsequently became seriously ill.
Referring to the Mayor's comments at Harvard, the DEA leader said, "I
think this is a mean-spirited attempt by the city to get another
bite at the apple in terms of the legislation that was passed."
'No Free Lunch'
Mr. Bloomberg's response when those bills were signed was another
of his less-temperate public moments in office: he declared, "There's
no free lunch, and Albany doesn't seem to understand that." What
he meant was that state officials were acting nobly while sticking
the city with the tab for those additional benefits, but it sounded
as if he was begrudging employees whose health had been ruined
in the search for the remains of those who were buried beneath
the rubble on 9/11.
Mr. Palladino said one irony of the Mayor's apparently lingering
anger at the role Detective Zadroga's death played in those measures
being signed was that he had gotten those benefits before the bills
became law.
"The NYPD Medical Board would never have given this guy his
disability pension if they thought he was abusing drugs," the
DEA leader said.
He contended that the Mayor's harsh words couldn't even be viewed
as a way of strengthening the city's legal hand at trial in defending
against the wrongful death suit brought by Mr. Zadroga's family. "You
don't have to be a Harvard Law School graduate to know there's
gonna be a settlement in this case," Mr. Palladino said.
A Bond Among Workers
Mr. Sheinkopf did not think Mr. Bloomberg spoke with an eye on
the court case, explaining, "There's absolutely more to do
with the court of public opinion and the judging of him and his
administration."
Mr. Arzt, who was speaking a day before a Daily News editorial
cartoon depicted the Mayor spitting on Detective Zadroga's grave,
said he doubted the controversy would dramatically affect public
opinion about Mr. Bloomberg's tenure, with one notable exception.
"This is a very popular Mayor, and I don't think it'll hurt
him at all, except for with the unions," he said.
That is not an insignificant segment of the population, however.
It figures to cover every employee who toiled at Ground Zero, as
well as their families and friends and neighbors. Their sense of
outrage at its unfairness will cut across union lines, creating
a bond that does not exist, for example, in the PBA's fight to
better compensate its members, which has actually divided the uniformed
unions because the 2005 PBA arbitration award worked to the disadvantage
of other union leaders and their memberships.
Reminiscent of Giuliani
That might explain why Mr. Lynch mustered more indignation on
that issue than he did the contract battle that directly affects
his members. There was no ambiguity or reasons for ambivalence
in responding to the Mayor's comments, as there could be in contemplating
his bargaining strategy and the precipice on which it has placed
the PBA leader.
On Nov. 5, Mr. Bloomberg apologized to Detective Zadroga's father
during a private meeting. By then he realized that his "not
a hero" remark invited unwanted comparisons to Rudy Giuliani
in his less-admirable moments as Mayor. Had he let the comment
stand, it was far likelier to make people reassess him than to
revise their opinions of the Detective or blame him for his tragic
death at 34.
| 
