Longtime IAFF Staffer George Burke died last night in northern Virginia after a long battle with cancer. George began as  director of communications at the International Association of Fire Fighters under then president Alfred K. Whitehead. In 2000, he became an assistant to the general president for communications and media. He helped to craft the […]

A Desperate Act by a Desperate Man IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger has fired chief of staff Pete Gorman. Gorman is a greatly admired and venerated IAFF leader. Known by thousands of IAFF members and others for his low-key and friendly leadership style, Gorman has been universally praised for his service to Schaitberger and for […]

Comment on the Times Report This article comes out just as we have a $.11/month per cap increase which is several thousand for my local. There is nowhere to turn. i could have sworn that the person who stated the “IAFF sides with my president” was referring to my local. They (Schaitberger and my president) […]

It’s Starting to Look Like the IAFF 4th District Race Over the summer Harold Schaitberger plotted the strategy designed to engineer the presidential endorsement of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US election. According to Reuters, “In June, IAFF President Harold Schaitberger, with the assent of the board, told the Clinton campaign that the union was […]

Schaitberger and IAFF Board Named Today’s New York Times reported how Harold Schaitberger and the IAFF executive board are plundering our union under the guise of doing IAFF business as if the only way to advance the cause of professional firefighters and paramedics is to recklessly spend dues money. One thing is for sure, with Schaitberger it’s […]

The Projection of American Influence and Power Thirty-nine years ago on September 21, 1976, Orlando Letelier, a Chilean exile and Ronni Moffitt, an American citizen, were killed when their car exploded as they drove through Washington, D.C.’s Sheridan Circle. The car had been booby-trapped by DINA, secret police under the direct control of then Chilean […]

Ole’ Joe Just last week IAFF Vice President Sandy McGhee was quoted in a New York Times piece revealing that the long-contemplated  Hillary Clinton endorsement was, in fact, stillborn. McGhee said, in part, “Secretary Clinton doesn’t sell well here … The vice president [Joe Biden] will do better.” Maybe he likes Biden’s style. Perhaps it’s familiar. […]

Wisdom Bestride Twin Towers of Ambition

Smoke Signals in the Distance? This past weekend the New York Times reported that the IAFF was backing away from an endorsement of Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2016 race for U.S. President. Sandy McGhee, an I.A.F.F. board member from Oklahoma, said in the Times, “Secretary Clinton doesn’t sell well here.” About as well […]