Today, Governor Rendell vetoed House Bill 1231, the fire fighter cancer presumption legislation. The Governor waited until the Saturday after Thanksgiving to make this ill advised move. The timing of his veto was gauged to keep us from making any concerted attempts towards an override. The PPFFA is very aware of the political process, but it is unbelievable that an anti fire fighter governor can thumb his nose at a piece of legislation that has had only 8 negative votes since its inception! The last time we checked we found that we still live in a democracy and when you have over 90 percent of the states elected representatives voting in bi-partisan favor of a bill that will give some comfort to terminally ill fire fighters and some financial assistance to fire fighters windows and children it's more than cold hearted, it's criminal.

I can assure you that we will be back with this legislation, the IAFF is involved and our friends in the PA Senate and House are on-board. It may have taken us 25 years to get here, but we're here to stay. This setback is just that a setback, we have tenacity and resolve, if the Governor and his political cronies don't believe that they're sorely and sadly mistaken. The giant that is the Pennsylvania Fire Service is just starting to rise. While our opponents in the various associations that were opposed to this legislation tout that they have representatives in 900 communities in the state, we have them in 3500 boroughs, cities and townships. We will foster that political power and with your assistance move our agenda forward.

Art Martynuska
President
Pennsylvania Professional
Fire Fighters Association
www.ppffa.org




When I became a firefighter, my first line chief told me 'when you became a fireman, you signed 10 years of your life away'. Yet Governor Rendell ignored that fact and the fact that we are willing to risk our lives and the quality of our lives to help YOU. We are regullarly exposed to every flu, HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis (All forms of it), All kinds of carcinagens (think of all the plastics and chemicals in a housefire), and God knows what else. He also criminally ignored the massive bi-partisan support this bill gathered. Makes you wonder WHY he would do that.

Dan Emplit WBFD
AKA Don Quixote