The Wall Street Journal – June 29, 2015
by Heather Haddon
Local politicians looking to run for president have touted their records responding to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, sparking anger among some victims’ family members who say candidates shouldn’t use the tragedy for political gain.
Former New York Gov. George Pataki and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, both Republicans eyeing the White House, have pointed to their work in the wake of the attacks as illustrative of the leadership skills a president needs. Mr. Pataki, for example, prominently featured Ground Zero in a video announcing his candidacy.
“Frankly, it sickens me,” said Rita Laser, who lost her brother in the attacks and is co-founder of a Sept. 11 organization, referring to the use of the World Trade Center attacks in political campaigns.
During previous presidential elections, some of the victims’ family members protested the use of 9/11 in campaign imagery. As the race for 2016 heats up, some said they were closely watching the current crop of candidates for language or imagery they deem inappropriate.
“I just don’t think someone should say, look at what they did on 9/11. We were totally unprepared,” said Jim Riches, a retired 64-year-old Brooklyn firefighter who responded to 9/11 and lost his son, also a firefighter, in the attacks.
A spokesman for Mr. Pataki said the World Trade Center attack was one of the defining events of the century, and it “informs Gov. Pataki’s fervently held views on how to keep America safe.”
A spokeswoman for Mr. Christie’s political-action committee said the governor isn’t currently a presidential candidate. (He is expected to announce his bid Tuesday.) None of his comments to date can be viewed within a campaign context, she said.
Earlier this month, at a “Politics & Eggs” breakfast event—a regular stop for presidential candidates in New Hampshire, home of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary—Mr. Christie spoke to the crowd about 9/11.
“We attended the funerals,” said Mr. Christie, noting that he lost members of his parish during the attacks. “And we have more importantly watched the loss that continues to today.”
The World Trade Center attack could resonate as an issue during the 2016 election cycle because many voters are concerned about Islamic militants and threats that have emerged since terrorists toppled the Twin Towers, Republican strategists said.
An NBC-Wall Street Journal national poll last month found that 27% of GOP primary voters named national security and terrorism as their top priority for government. That was up from 8% who ranked it their highest issue in 2012.
References to 9/11 also recall a time of bipartisanship and leadership in the face of a crisis, said William Eimicke, a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
“There’s a lot of good feelings about 9/11 about how we came together,” Mr. Eimicke said. “Harkening back to 9/11 evokes a sense of pride and strength.”
But references to 9/11 on the national stage have sparked controversy.
While running for re-election in 2004, President George W. Bush ran commercials using imagery from the Sept. 11 attacks, including shots of the wreckage of the towers. The ads were criticized by Democrats and some 9/11 families as inappropriate. Mr. Bush defended them.
Perhaps no other former presidential candidate is more associated with 9/11 than Rudy Giuliani, New York City’s mayor when the attacks occurred. Mr. Giuliani, who was called “America’s mayor” after the attacks, sought to showcase his 9/11 leadership while seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
Polls at the time showed Mr. Giuliani’s supporters ranked his tenure after the attacks as part of his appeal, but not all Sept. 11 families agreed. Activists protested Mr. Giuliani’s campaign events—including traveling to Iowa to dog him—and a union of firefighters distributed a video that criticized the mayor’s work at the time.
In an interview this month, Mr. Giuliani said some 9/11 families didn’t approve of his work as mayor, but he said that it was “a very small minority.”
Mr. Giuliani said he expected some families to be upset with candidates referencing the attacks in a campaign context. But it was appropriate for Messrs. Christie and Pataki to talk about 9/11, he said. “I don’t see of how you can escape it when it’s been a big part of your career,” Mr. Giuliani said.
Mr. Giuliani and Democrat Hillary Clinton, who was a U.S. senator from New York at the time of the attacks, both lost their presidential bids in 2008. This spring, Mrs. Clinton launched a second bid for president, but so far she hasn’t dwelled on 9/11 at campaign events.
In announcing his bid in May, Mr. Pataki’s campaign released a video featuring numerous scenes of him speaking in the rebuilt World Trade Center. “When we stand together we can accomplish anything. I saw that on the streets of New York in the days and weeks after September 11th,” Mr. Pataki said in the video. “We need to recapture that spirit.”
Sally Regenhard, the mother of a probationary firefighter who died in the attacks, said it isn’t appropriate to use 9/11 for political purposes, citing Mr. Pataki’s video as an example.
“There’s a raw nerve here,” Ms. Regenhard said.
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