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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Virginia Fire Fighters Endorse Jim Webb for U.S. Senate

Across the IAFF:
Virginia Fire Fighters Endorse Jim Webb for U.S. Senate

October 17, 2006 – IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger, Mike Mohler, president of the Virginia Professional Fire Fighters (VPFF) and IAFF members from throughout Virginia announced the VPFF’s endorsement of Jim Webb for U.S. Senate during a press conference held October 16 in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Webb is running against incumbent Republican Senator George Allen on November 7. The former Marine, who served as Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan, supports fully funding SAFER legislation to hire new fire fighters and the right to collective bargaining, as well as staffing and other issues important to fire fighters.
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17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that bit of info.

Anonymous said...

yea, lets get this guy in so we can have the right to collective bargaining

Anonymous said...

Collective bargaining comes from the state government not the federal level. Webb is running for US Senator.

Anonymous said...

what a joke,the union and shitberger would endorse a monkey as long as he is democrat.i guess we will endorce Ms Clinton next, what a shame!

Anonymous said...

Ditto, what a shame!

Anonymous said...

Vote Allen!

FireFleitz said...

Maybe you have misunderstood. The VPFF has ENDORSED Webb. This doesn't mean that they are going to force you to vote for him. The VPFF is looking out for the best interest of your JOB when they make recommendations/endorsements. That is the reason the VPFF exists, much as the IAFF and RFFA. It is not Gospel, it is merely a recommendation. Through interviews and questionaires, the VPFF has come to the conclusion that Webb is the better candidate for reasons directly related to your job.

If you feel that there are other reasons to vote for Allen, that outweigh what might be in the best interest of your JOB, then vote Allen.

It is interesting how it is the comments who always make it a strict party line, not the VPFF or IAFF.

I will try and get some more information on this matter, more specifically reasons why Webb was endorsed over Allen and get that info to you.

Anonymous said...

Rhett. Why do you get on here and talk to people like you are better then thenm or your smarter then others and you are always right attitude! You talk about Strict party line! Tell me when the L-1132 ENDORSED anyone other then a democrate? You are right about we can vote for who we want and we will.I can ensure you not many members of our local voted for kerry in 04! This is your site and you put many good things on here. But you are no better then anyone else in our union or our department.

FireFleitz said...

I don't get it. I don't see how I talk about being better than anyone.

Anyways, to answer your question about endorsing anyone other than a democrat; the answer is easy. The last City Council election we endorsed a republican. I hope that is current enough for you. Not that I am keeping track or anything. I do think it is interesting how you comment so quick about us not supporting a republican, yet you didn't know the answer.

By the way, before you say I that again I am talking like I am better than you, I am merely providing the facts you were looking for.

Thanks for the comments.

Anonymous said...

Your doing a great job Rhett. I may not alway agree with everything you comment on, but it your write to speak your mind. Great site, keep up the good work

Anonymous said...

Rhett,
I will have to disagree with you on the voting thing. These guys are right Democrats are the overwhelming majority of candidates that the Union supports. Why, who the hell knows.

All I know is this, we all vote for who we want anyway. The 'JOB' isn't everything in life, you have to look out for taxes, schools, family, crimes, gay marriages, dogs and cats mating, the price of gas, cost of living, and many many other issues.

The 'JOB' is just one small piece of the pie. If a candidate wants me to take a 5% reduction in pay, it's OK with me if the cost of living and everything else goes down as well (it isn't going to happen but that's an example).


The fact is that the union has made piss poor decisions in supporting a bunch of losers and two faced bastards.

Thank you I'm spent

FireFleitz said...

Thanks for your comments. We vote for who we want to, true. The VPFF supports candidates who support firefighters, true. These candidates are usually democrats, true. Democrats usually look out for the best interest of blue collar workers, true. We are blue collar workers, true.

That being said. Do you think that the VPFF was doing their job if they supported Candidate A because Candidate A was against abortion, or because Candidate A wanted stricter Gun control.

The answer should be NO. The VPFF, just like the RFFA on the local level, and the IAFF on the National level, supports candidates, after being interviewed, who best exemplify a PRO Firefighter Candidate.

Sometimes, in our profession, a tax increase could mean better staffing, better equipment, better training. Such as the $12 million that VDFP asked for last year. That would have directly benefitted us.

I am not saying that all tax hikes have direct benefits to us, nor are they all warranted.

We need to look at the big picture.

Anonymous said...

Rhett,
You said, "The VPFF supports candidates who support firefighters". Where do they give us the reasons behind their choices? Is it on their website? I realize many voters allow a single issue to to determine their vote( Abortion, gun control, Gay Marriage.ETC...), but some of us realize that many of those issues wont be decided in a single election. I would like to know what the difference between the candidates on fire fighter issues are, not just who some firefighter lobbiest like. If there is a big enough difference, It may be worth setting aside some other issues to support the candidate they chose. But i wont vote for him just because they say I should. Thanks for keeping us informed.

Anonymous said...

Rhett,

You know you think you are far superior to us. One need merely to look at the way in which you perch so proudly in your ARFF truck. Sitting, one might muse, as though you rule all you survey. Yes in your mind you are The Duke of Delta, The Earl of Echo, The Viceroy of Victor and perhaps in your spare time, The Queen of Quebec. AHA, we knew there was a reason you went to Canada and it wasn't to bid fair greetings to the relatives of another in Guelph (?). By the way, will we ever know the real story behind the chair of bidding? Forgive me, I digress. Oh King Rhett, please pity your royal subjects. We implore you, suffer a crumb of your good fortune to us.

Anonymous said...

I appears as though Webb is trying to appeal to the masses now. According to this article,www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-58787sy0oct21,0,1308230.story?coll=dp-news-local-final, he is supportive of Virginia remaining a right to work state, but he is also supporting collective bargaining. Kinda interesting. It would seem as he is trying to reel in the Big corporate $$$ and also get the workers to believe that he will fight for there rights as well. I wonder who he will stand behind in the end? Corporate $$ or us.

FireFleitz said...

I thought the same thing when I read the article. Who knows which mouth will be speaking if he wins?

Anonymous said...

Rhett, please don't delete this let the masses read. The VPFF has a history of supporting mostly democrat candidates due to one thing. They reply to the questionaire sent to them. Republicans(not all,but most)do not care about you, your safety, or your job. Period. You do not make enough money or employee enough people(side job). Remeber Bush on 9/12/01 on the WTC told us a lie that day and proved it that week. I'm going to help you guys out, same week cut the funding to the FIRE ACT.
Now what is most disturbing are the firefighters that vote strictly GOP. Usually the same ones screaming for a pay raise every year which comes from taxes of the citizens they serve. Yet when it comes to giving some other state employee a raise they scream murder. What hypocrites.
Webb for Senate. Allen had all these years in the Va Senate and has done NOTHING for the firefighters. And yes there is one IAFF local in this right to work for less state(average $7000 a year less) that has a collective bargaining agreement. Enough said.