Relatives and colleagues of the World Trade Center
victims have condemned New York's former mayor,
Rudolph Giuliani, for agreeing to speak at a $2,000
(£1,400) a head fundraising gala for the Republican
party, which they say exploits the memory of
September 11.
The dinner, on March 5 at the Hilton Hotel in
Washington DC, will be entitled A Tribute to America's
Heroes - but its purpose is to raise at least $5.5 million for
the national Republican congressional committee
through the sale of more than 2,000 tickets.
Jack Ginty, the vice-president of New York's uniformed
fire officers' association, called the event "a misuse".
"Giuliani is a hero for what he did for this city, but I
don't want people trading on that," he said yesterday.
"They're trading on an event in which we lost 343 men."
Mike Cartier, of the relatives' group Give Your Voice,
told the New York Post it was "a shame that people
are using September 11 for an underhanded reason, to
propagate their own agenda."
The Republican party professed surprise, arguing that
"America's Heroes" were many and various. "Are you
telling me that Giuliani isn't one of America's heroes for
what he's been doing for years as mayor?" the
Republican party spokesman, Carl Forti, said.
"For someone to just assume that this is in any way
related to the events of 9-11 is absolutely outrageous
and ridiculous."
© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
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