Firefighters Quibble Over Trump-Biden Endorsements
Dissident members of Local 22 of the the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) are protesting that their leadership has endorsed Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election.
The Inquirer reported on Friday (October 2), that “Mike Bresnan, president of Local 22, surprised many of his union’s members Tuesday with the endorsement, praising Trump and criticizing the IAFF leadership in Washington for an endorsement process he called ‘undemocratic.’
‘The Biden endorsement was done without a canvas of local unions and the consideration of the rank and file IAFF membership,’ Bresnan wrote in his endorsement letter.
The Inquirer noted that some of the 4,700 members of the Philadelphia Local (which also represents paramedics) found Bresnan statement to be rather ironic. According to the Inquirer, “The union sent members a link to a ‘Presidential Election 2020 Survey’ in a Sept. 3 email, asking them to log on to the Local 22 website to say if they supported Trump, Biden, ‘another candidate,’ or didn’t plan to vote.
Chuck McQuilkin, the union’s vice president and political director, said about half of its members aren’t signed up to receive emails so they likely never saw it. The survey, which did not say it was for an endorsement, drew 577 votes — with Trump winning a little over 400 votes and Biden getting a little over 100. But those votes represented only about 12% of the union’s members.
McQuilkin said he had never seen Local 22 insert itself in a presidential election. He called it a bad idea that will create problems with Democratic politicians in the state going forward.”
CBS-3 reported on Tuesday (October 6) that a union meeting which drew a contingent of members opposed to the local’s endorsement was called off due to “safety concerns.” According to the CBS-3 report, this is the first time the local has endorsed a candidate for President. In the past Local 22 has only endorsed candidates in local races.