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Schundler: It's Safe to Fly
Originally appeared in CBSnewyork.com on October 2, 2001
(AP) (NEW YORK) October 1, 2001 5:36 pm
Republican Bret Schundler, gently moving
ahead with New Jersey's campaign for
governor, joined House Speaker Dennis
Hastert at Newark International Airport
on Monday to assure Americans it is safe
to fly.
Schundler later did his part by boarding a
plane for a trip of his own -- to Dallas,
where he planned to raise campaign
donations from supporters of President
Bush. "We're here to let people know
that that is safe, and that it's important
for people not to feel afraid," he said.
An overnight trip out of state to raise
money might not be a typical way to
appeal to the voting public, but then, this is not an ordinary time to
be a candidate. Schundler and Democratic gubernatorial nominee
Jim McGreevey are both searching for the right approach to
campaigning at a time of national grief.
With polls showing him trailing, Schundler in particular cannot afford
to keep the campaign on hold much longer. But politicking at a time
of national crisis carries risks.
Police and firefighter unions that support McGreevey recently
accused Schundler of exploiting World Trade Center rescue workers
by featuring images of them in a new campaign commercial.
Schundler said Monday that his intent was to commend the
workers: "How can any of us not be impressed and moved and
inspired by the kind of courage those emergency personnel
demonstrated?"
McGreevey and Schundler each have outlined plans to help New
Jersey prepare for future disasters while coping with the recent
one.
McGreevey urged Congress to federalize airport security or allow
states to establish minimum standards, pledged to create a state
anti-terrorism task force and said he would appoint a physician to
the state's Emergency Management Office.
Schundler offered a security plan that includes a new defense and
emergency management center, improved state police intelligence
units and better air defense from National Guard units.
Monday's event brought Schundler and Hastert to an administration
building at Newark International Airport, the departure point for one
of the four planes hijacked on Sept. 11. It crashed in Pennsylvania
apparently after passengers struggled with the hijackers.
A memorial display at the administration offices honors the 37
"brothers and sisters of the Port Authority Police Department" who
died in the destruction of the World Trade Center towers.
Schundler and Hastert praised the aviation security that Bush
presented last week. It would expand the air marshal program,
provide $500 million to fortify cockpit doors and make other airplane
modifications, put the federal government in charge of airport
security and assign specially trained National Guard members at
airports.
"We haven't had a skyjacking in this country for 10 years, and
sometimes we've grown complacent," said Hastert, R-Ill. "We've had
the wakeup call; we're very, very sorry it was the tragedy that it
was."
Some Democrats in Congress say Bush's aviation-security plan does
not go far enough in federalizing the airport security workers
responsible for screening bags and passengers. Those Democrats
want to make the screeners federal employees; Republicans,
including Hastert, oppose the idea, in part because it would convey
civil service job protection.
"When you find people not doing their job, in the private sector you
can fire them," Hastert said.
Also Monday, Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., urged federal officials
not to overlook needed security upgrades at the nation's 13,000
private airports, airfields and heliports.
He said some of the $10 billion in discretionary funds approved by
Congress should be spent on security fences, cameras and other
steps at places like Millville Airport in Cumberland County, which he
visited Monday afternoon.
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