Stoke Deutsche Bank Feud
FDNY Leaders Tell Cassidy: Quit Lying

By ARI PAUL

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta and Chief of Department Salvatore Cassano have hit back at Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy, claiming the union leader's criticism of the department's handling of the fatal Deutsche Bank Building fire was based on lies and meant solely for political advancement.

NICHOLAS SCOPPETTA: UFA head playing politics.

Mr. Cassidy sent a letter to UFA members this month, available on the union's Web site, summarizing several of his press conferences since the Aug. 18 fire, which killed two UFA members, Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino.

'Campaign Lies'

"The letter, which is essentially campaign literature, rehashes many false statements Steve has made in the past about the department and its actions since the tragic Deutsche Bank Building fire," the FDNY leaders said in a letter to Firefighters Dec. 6. "While normally we would not respond to such patently false claims, we must correct a few of these erroneous statements here, especially the ones that diminish your work in the field."

They took particular issue with Mr. Cassidy's claim that the new building inspection program instituted last month would increase emergency response times. Previewing their testimony six days later before the City Council Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee, they said that citywide response times since the program's start had dropped for both medical emergencies and structural fires.

STEVE CASSIDY: Scoppetta acting guilty.

Mr. Cassidy reiterated that he believed the department's numbers were not accurate.

In his communiqué to Firefighters, Mr. Cassidy also accused Mr. Scoppetta of not cooperating with the Manhattan District Attorney's investigation of the fatal fire.

"What are they trying to hide?" he asked. Mr. Scoppetta and Chief Cassano denied the accusation.

"The department is fully committed to cooperating with the DA's investigation," they said. "We personally look forward to assisting the DA and answering any and all questions you may have."

In response, Mr. Cassidy defended his claims, saying that the city's decision to hire an outside criminal defense attorney in the DA's investigation was suspicious.

'Never Happened Before'

"In the entire history of the department an outside criminal attorney has never been brought in to defend the commissioner and his staff," he said in a statement. "The District Attorney also had to go so far as to subpoena firefighter safety interviews from the FDNY because of the department's lack of cooperation in freely releasing the information to investigators."

But the FDNY leaders scoffed at the union head's message, claiming it had more to do with boosting his public image than improving conditions within the department.

"It should be clear to everyone that Steve's self-promoting TV appearances and press conferences have not done you or the department much good," Mr. Scoppetta and Chief Cassano said in their letter to Firefighters. "Neither will his sending you letters full of false and baseless claims about department leaders."