Former Bush EPA Chief: Giuliani ‘More Concerned With Image Than Safety’ During Anthrax Scare

[Hissyspit]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/22/giuliani-anthrax

Former Bush EPA Chief: Giuliani ‘More Concerned With Image Than Safety’ During Anthrax Scare

In an interview last night with New York NBC affiliate WNBC, President Bush’s former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman revealed that mayor Rudy Giuliani’s administration “appeared to be more concerned with its image than the safety and speedy response of EPA employees in the wake of the 2001 anthrax scare.”

Whitman disclosed for the first time that, when anthrax letters were sent to NBC headquarters, Giuliani and then-New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik would not allow EPA inspectors to be seen entering the building in their hazmat suits. Instead, a tent had to be set up where they first could change into their gear, “hidden from public view.”

“There was concern by the city that EPA workers not be seen in their hazmat suits going in because still recovering from 9/11,” Whitman said. “They didn’t want this image of a city falling apart. I said, ‘Well, that’s not acceptable, and this is the way we’re going to have to do it.’” Watch it:

VIDEO AT LINK

Whitman’s claims, which Giuliani chose not to respond to, put another hole in the media caricature of Giuliani as a “commanding daddy” who “owns 9-11” and has a “claim to combat” experience from his actions during the terrorist attacks. New York firefighters have repeatedly criticized Giuliani’s handling of the attacks, Jerome Hauer, New York City’s first emergency management director, characterized Giuliani’s anti-terrorism record as “deeply flawed.”

[yardwork]

1. There might be a lot of reasons for that, actually.

[Ezlivin]

2. "There's never been another terrorist attack since 9/11" - BULLSHIT

You often hear that sentence uttered in defense of this administration's handling of terrorism.

They always seem to "forget" about the Anthrax Attack. Why? Because all clues lead to an inside job....

[monktonman]

3. Domestic terror isnt terror anyway.

Oh.... I forgot about the DC snipers.

[babylonsister]

4. Could Christi be providing a distraction for her involvement in paving

the way for so many people to be hurt from breathing noxious fumes? And FWIW, I have never bought in to the image Ghouliani has tried to create of the omnipotent leader, though I did like it when he refused to take that check from the Saudis.