FORMER MEMBER OF THE NYPD TAKES STAND WITH OUR POLICE & FIREFIGHTERS
COUNCIL CANDIDATE AND FORMER NYPD OFFICER STANDS
WITH OUR POLICE & FIREFIGHTERS AGAINST GOVENOR
ALBANY: Gov. David Paterson vetoed a bill on June 3, 2009 that would have extended a law to provide police and firefighters with well-deserved pension benefits. The bill has routinely been reauthorized for 25 years and simply provides cops and firefighters with benefits they would otherwise receive upon being hired, but for a failure to make those provisions permanent.
Council Candidate and local attorney Dan Halloran, a former member of the NYPD, immediately denounced the move as scapegoat politics. Halloran said, “Instead of targeting the waste and mismanagement elsewhere in the budget, the governor has chosen to shoot down some of the most deserving of our civil servants, who put their lives on the line for us daily. The governor’s claim of fiscal responsibility now rings hollow given the fact that a month ago he signed into law the biggest spending and tax increase in state history.”
Instead of standing with our uniformed services, the governor has signaled his intent to allow the waste and mismanagement of other agencies and services to continue unchecked while our First Responders are left out in the cold. Halloran said, “I call on the Queens delegation of lawmakers to stand up for our police and firefighters and urge an override of the Governor’s veto. Governor Paterson’s decision to increase spending on welfare recipients while raising taxes by four billion dollars last year, coupled with his proposals to eliminate safeguards that have helped prevent fraud and abuse in the welfare system, makes this decision unconscionable and incomprehensible!”
Halloran, who comes from a long line of Police and Firefighters in New York City, called upon the legislature to override the governor’s veto or risk losing more of our Finest and Bravest, who may be forced to seek employment elsewhere.
