Former Bush EPA Chief: Giuliani ‘More Concerned With Image Than Safety’ During Anthrax Scare
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.” Whitman said:
There was concern by the city that EPA workers not be seen in their hazmat suits going in because [the city was] still recovering from 9/11. 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.”
WNBC said Giuliani chose not to respond to the report. Watch it:
Whitman’s revelation puts 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 9/11, and Jerome Hauer, New York City’s first emergency management director, has characterized Giuliani’s anti-terrorism record as “deeply flawed.”
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Well, anthrax really is not a threat. Got exposed, just get some antibiotics.
That’s why the FBI never really pushed for an investigation. A lone nut brewed up some anthrax. Not really a national security threat.
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:57 ama lone RIGHT WING nut,MAF54.
Let us not forget…
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:02 amWhitman, another Bushie who grew a conscience. Too bad you did so much to evicerate the EPA when you were there.
Why don’t you dish on all the “protections” you gave to polluters when you ran the EPA. Maybe you can talk with your friends at the FDA, FCC, and all the other agencies and tell us all the things each of the agencies gave away to the detriment of the people in this country (and around the world). You were a political appointee who served Heir Bush loyally.
I wonder who’s paying you now. McCain? Romney (after all, he is sooooo dreamy, just ask Chris Matthews and all the other mouthpieces, oh, and he smells good, too)?
You’re a paid whore. Nothing more.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:06 amActually, 5 people were killed by the 2001 anthrax incident. It certainly was a threat to them.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:09 amNot really a national security threat. Comment by MAF54
Just like Saddam: not really a national security threat.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:09 amLet me get this straight.
9/11 & Anthrax killed people and were called terrorist attacks.
5 1/2 yrs. later, our ‘Tough on Terror’ administration has found neither the
Anthrax mailer or Osama Bin Laden.
Is this correct, BushBaby’s?
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:16 amChristie Todd “Oil Queen” Whitman is simply trying to deflect attention away from her own declaration that the dust cloud from WTC was harmless.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:17 amTrudi Giuliani and MAF54, now there’s a couple of Republipervs for you.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:18 amOuch! Things are so bad that these political wags are willing to “cut” someone who possibly may end up being president. That is really strong.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:19 amWhitman belongs in prison.
50,000 people are sick and dying because 0f her.
Repukes refused to help these 9-11 victims but the Dems are voting to help them.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:24 amGiuliani was too busy trying on bras and cross-dressing > lol.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:26 am#11: Nothing wrong with that – or is there, liberal?
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:31 amI’m no Giuliani fan. But, in all fairness, it was not an unreasonable stance to say that he didn’t want shell shocked New Yorkers freaking out because they were seeing guys in biohazard suits going into office buildings. I was in New York at the time. People were freaked — bravely doing their best to keep functioning and not give the bastards the satsifaction, but still freaked. My office had two evacuations for no apparent reason. People were buying gas masks to carry on the subway. It was more than “image” to ask for the extra step of setting up a tent.
And, let’s not forget, Whitman is the person who lied to New Yorkers about the air being safe downtown. Giuliani’s definitely a bastard, but she has blood on her hands.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:31 amMAF54 > LOL if President Bill Clinton had cross-dressed, then you would have called him a sicko, so cut the defense of Giuliani the GOPer weirdo.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:33 amNYC is still recovering from Rudy’s policies. When he left,the schoolsystem, the budget, waste processing, the roads,thr police and the fire department were in shambles. Rudy did the same job on the city that W is doing on the nation. Rudy could llift the mantle of the worst president without even trying – that’s because he really does not try.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:40 amI agree with steve, this story isn’t much, especially compared with the Rudy-ISG story that the MSM is still ignoring. If more information comes out about the urgency of EPA guys getting into the building, I’d feel differently, but Rudy asking the EPA administrator to tred lightly around shell-shocked new yorkers is not much of a bombshell. I’m pretty sure this story helps him more than it hurts him, especially considering the hypocricy on the part of Whitman
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:40 amI still have my “Giulliani is a Jerk” bumbersticker I got in NYC about 8 years ago, and it’s more appropriate than ever today.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:44 amYeah, avoiding mass panic sounds like a pretty reasonable thing for a mayor to be thinking about.
Seriously, after all the scare tactics of the past few years from the Republicans, I can’t really fault Rudy here.
June 22nd, 2007 at 11:47 amIt’s well known,atleast in NYC.,that the firefighters and their union(s) despise Giuliani.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:24 pmMAF54 aka Bobblehead:
Are you calling Dick Cheney a lone nut?
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:30 pmVery hypocritical of Rudy to want to avoid spreading panic, when now he runs on it.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:33 pmThat’s because Gulianni is complicit with the 9/11 inside job and GUILTY AS HELL!!!
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:49 pmI was in NYC on business the week of 9/11, and from my perspective, with avenues shut down for emergency and construction vehicles only, subway routes altered, newspaper headlines shouting “IT’S WAR!”, and smoke and dust from the WTC wafting uptown every night, only a handful people would have been “freaked” to seeing someone wearing a protective suit. On the contrary, I was amazed that many responders were wearing no protection at all.
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:55 pmWhoa, wait. The anthrax used was weaponized at Fort Dix. That was established as fact based on scientific analysis of the anthrax. It was anthrax that the U.S. Army controlled. Now, how to you think that it got out of that base? Teleporting?
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:04 pmIt’s true that Whitman lied about the environmental dangers posed by the collapse of the twin towers, but how does that let Guilliai off the hook? Why wasn’t he more vigilant about demanding the truth from the Bush administration – there were lots of disbelievers at the time, why wasn’t Rudy one of them.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:19 pmChristine Whitman is a horrendous source to quote on Mr. Giuliani.
She is the recipient of multiple lawsuits for her role in misreporting the environmental safety of downtown Manhattan after the attacks. As soon as she saw which the way the wind was blowing, she began to blame Rudy Giuliani.
Rudy Giuliani was not the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Whitman was.
Whitman sold us out and has the same regrets of Colin Powell, who realized what a tragic mistake he made in joining this administration. While Powell has now come out openly criticizing many of the decisions of the current government, Whitman has taken blame for nothing, taken responsibility for nothing.
She lied and how many will pay the price?
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:30 pmGiuliani ‘More Concerned With Image Than Safety’ During Anthrax Scare
Right… he didn’t want his slip showing on any television shots…
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:39 pm#11: Nothing wrong with that – or is there, liberal?
Comment by MAF54
Hmmm… I think MAF54 is letting a little personal information “slip”out here… Quick, Look! There’s a new page lounging around the pool in a pair of Speedos…
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:41 pmWhitman, doing the bidding of Bush/Cheney, is directly responsible for what will become thousands of deaths.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:15 pmPersonally, I think the anthrax attacks were to make sure Congress was panicked enough to pass the USA PATRIOT act and go to war against Iraq.
After all, it’s not everybody who can “brew up” military-grade, weaponized anthrax (traceable to the U.S. military) without killing themselves.
Have to agree with #13 on this one.
The 9/11 Whore likely only cares about his image, but after enduring weeks of intermittent Bomb Scares at my job, I’d have freaked even more seeing the Haz Mat suits.
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:29 pm“They” don’t want Rudy. He would take too many things into his own hands. “They” like Mitt. Mitt takes orders like a good boy. (And he smells GREAT!)
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:40 pmGuiliani’s campaign manager was just trying to get Rudy some medicine to counteract the anthrax. He heard cocaine had medicinal properties.
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:42 pmWhitman sold us out and has the same regrets of Colin Powell, who realized what a tragic mistake he made in joining this administration. While Powell has now come out openly criticizing many of the decisions of the current government, Whitman has taken blame for nothing, taken responsibility for nothing.
She lied and how many will pay the price?
Comment by Jamie Cole — June 22, 2007 @ 1:30 pm
Jamie, I wholeheartedly agree with you on Whitman. Her lies about the health risks at Ground Zero are inexcusable.
However, while Powell has expressed some regrets and criticism, if you saw his recent interview with Tim Russert on “Press the Meat”, you’d see that he is still carrying water for the Bush administration. I’m incredibly disappointed in Powell, and will no longer trust him.
June 23rd, 2007 at 3:45 amIf Giuliani is elected President it will be yet another reason to hate Al Queda and the 16 hijackers on 911
June 23rd, 2007 at 8:56 amGuiliani’s hebetudinous and hasn’t a chance to be president.
June 23rd, 2007 at 10:06 amLet him stay where he and his memo-writing for $165,000-a-month wife belong, among the Republican money grubbers and fixers and cheats and manipulators aa they propose continued good government.
You’re a card, America. But where do you get such people?
You guys are right. I am a closet homosexual and I need you help to stop the hating of others. My pastor (who raped me as a child) told me the best way to heal is to find fault in others.
The entire GOP is based on that philosophy.
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:20 pmThe Anthrax came from the Pentagon. Rudy & Bernie just didn’t want the EPA to figure that out by grabbing some samples. Those two helped plan and stage 911 bigtime. Don’t you LOVE to see this nation being flushed down the toilet of history? Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Giuliani, Kerik are all TRAITORS who ATTACKED AMERICA. Guess what the penalty actually is for that. It’s certainly not being handed the Presidency.
June 23rd, 2007 at 2:43 pmWhere is Col. Zack these days?
June 24th, 2007 at 3:39 am