IAFF: EDZO Peeps Out
But please, let’s not get too giddy.
Ed Kelly made a (surprise) appearance on Facebook, in garb designed to drive IAFF president-for-life Harold Schaitberger right up the wall.
Schaitberger hasn’t worked a shift in 44-years, yes — you heard it right — 44; seeing Edzo on duty at Ladder 17 is yet another jarring reminder of Schaitberger’s totally bizarre longevity.
The last time Schaitberger worked as a firefighter, Kelly was still in diapers.
Still, Kelly can’t claim the good guy card yet; he’s just the flotsam we glom onto as the Schaitberger ship goes down.
He needs to do better with his optics and his rhetoric to be an inclusive leader truly worth following.
Speaking of rhetoric, he also needs to atone personally and with sincerity to vice-president Ricky Walsh whom Kelly publicly slandered when Kelly was still a very loyal Schaitberger lieutenant, gleefully doing the dirty work for the “boss.”
In 2017, Kelly was in the 7th district as he campaigned in the district vice president race there.
He said in his rant to IAFF members that the many folks who want an honest IAFF are engaged in a “conspiracy” and that we want Schaitberger removed in “handcuffs” and to cause “chaos.”
Ricky Walsh has always been a beacon of honesty and integrity and union to the very core.
In fact, if Kelly wants a mentor for leadership and inclusiveness, there would be no finer choice than Walsh.
Let’s just leave it there for now, as we say.
