Dodd Latest Visitor to Campaign for Titus
Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., told a cheering room full of firefighters that they must work their hardest to get Democrat Dina Titus elected governor, saying she would protect their benefits and get them more resources, while Republican Jim Gibbons has failed to do so in Congress.
Dodd is another of the many Democratic visitors to Nevada who are rumored to be seeking the 2008 presidential nomination. A fiery speaker, Dodd was accompanied by Titus and the president of the international firefighters' union.
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"You are the first responders," Dodd said in a speech that at its peak had him red-faced and shouting.
"It's always the firefighters who show up first to protect people. We need to make sure you have the equipment, the training, everything you need to do your job."
Dodd was a sponsor of the 2001 Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act, which gives local governments federal grants to hire firefighters or otherwise subsidize fire departments.
Rusty McCallister, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Nevada, which has endorsed Titus, said Nevada doesn't get its fair share of the monies.
In 2004, of $680 million in federal grants, Nevada got just $1.4 million, the lowest amount per capita of any state, he said.
"I'd ask you, are we getting the short end of the stick?" McCallister asked.
Dodd laid the blame on Gibbons. "Nevada needs to be doing better," he said. "My state does well. Other states do well. You need a governor and legislators who will fight for Nevada."
Dodd also referred to Las Vegas being dropped from the list of cities considered at high risk of terrorist attack and eligible for extra homeland security funding.
"I think it was wrong for the federal government to cut homeland security funding for Las Vegas, and it was because you didn't have Congressman Gibbons fighting harder for this state."
Gibbons, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Tuesday that while he takes credit for homeland security measures he's helped get through Congress, he can't take blame for funding decisions that take place in the executive branch, as the risk area funding did.
He noted that Las Vegas stands to get better funding in the future thanks to a measure fellow Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., pushed for and Gibbons supported. Passed as part of homeland security appropriations last week, it requires that tourist populations be considered in calculations of terrorism risk.
Gibbons also cited multiple votes that increased funding for law enforcement, including homeland security, which he considers his signature issue in Congress.
As for the FIRE act grants, Gibbons said, "If that's true, our entire delegation, which includes the minority leader of the Democratic Party, isn't doing enough. I would hope he's (Dodd) not pointing fingers at Senator (Harry) Reid as well, his own leader."
Titus told the crowd of about 100 that she would work as governor to prevent public employee health benefits -- the PEBS system -- from being cut. "I will always be there to protect your right of collective bargaining and to protect your benefits," she said. "Absolutely they were not handed to you; you earned them."
But Gibbons said the PEBS system has to be restructured in order to keep taxpayers from being stuck with a liability estimated at about $5 billion.
He said it was a matter of fiscal responsibility and public employee unions would have to sacrifice some of the "freebies" they have enjoyed.
"We have to stand up and make some tough choices in order to be a state that lives within our means," Gibbons said.
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