For The Record

"Are unions good for America?" MSNBC host Chris Matthews asked the nine Republican hopefuls during the latter part of their Oct. 9 debate in Michigan.

Although they were in the heart of automobile country, the candidates didn't say much that would warm the soul of John L. Lewis, although several opined that unions served a purpose as long as they didn't get too demanding.

Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, tellingly, didn't seek to remind viewers of all the labor support he had when he ran for re-election in 1997, instead spending most of his allotted time talking with Mr. Matthews about his grandmother's membership in the old Ladies Garment Workers Union. Mr. Matthews tried to coax him into singing "Look for the Union Label," but Mr. Giuliani, professing concern for an audience that has never heard him sing but perhaps wary of providing a video clip for attack ads by his Republican opponents, declined to warble.

Arizona Sen. John McCain began his response by noting that he came from a right-to-work state and said he was opposed to a Democratic-backed bill that would allow unions to gain bargaining rights without an actual election - a response to employer attempts in recent years to pressure workers against organizing.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney singled out the Carpenters union for praise, then contrasted it with "bad unions which go too far."

Ex-Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, noting his own membership in the Screen Actors Guild, said, "I do not believe that union bosses ought to use union dues for political purposes that their members do not necessarily agree with."

After Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback noted that his mother had been a letter-carrier, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo felt compelled to say that she "didn't need a union on top of civil service."

The most interesting response to the question came from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who said he expected that organized labor would have an increasingly important place in American life in the coming years.

"The reality is," Mr. Huckabee said, "that when you have the average CEO's salary 500 times the average worker, and you have the hedge-fund manager making 2,200 times that, you're gonna create a level of discontent that's gonna create a huge appetite for unions."

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While this year's FDNY Memorial Service got a controversial edge when the Chief of Department used his speech to briefly hit back at union critics, state officials left their feuding clothes home Oct. 9 while paying tribute to a dozen firefighters whose names were inscribed on the Fallen Firefighters Memorial Wall in Albany.

Governor Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno cast aside their differences to join Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in saluting the firefighters from across the state - including one who was acknowledged 75 years after his death - who gave their lives in the line of duty. Mr. Spitzer lauded them for making "the ultimate sacrifice to help keep our communities safe," while Mr. Bruno praised their willingness to "place their lives in harm's way."

Two FDNY members - Howard Carpluk and Michael Reilly, both of whom died last year - had their names added to a wall that now contains 2,326. Other inscriptions were made in memory of three firefighters who died earlier this year - Lieut. Theodore Abriel of the Albany Fire Department, Firefighter Anthony Kaiser of the Narrowsburg F.D. and Capt. Edgar Scott of the Menands Fire Department.

Six others who died during 2006 were also honored: Ex-Capt. Michael Greene of the West Babylon Fire Department, Firefighter Donald Herbert of the Buffalo F.D., Firefighter Gerald Machajewski of the Cambria Volunteer Fire Company, Firefighter Hector McClune of the Millerton Fire Company and Chief Robert Schnibbe Jr. of the Hastings-on-Hudson F.D.

Belated recognition was given to Firefighter Stewart Powell of the Norwood F.D., who died in 1943, and Firefighter Thomas Geraghty of the Rhinebeck F.D., who was killed in the line of duty in 1932.