IAFF: Kelly Beats Schaitberger, Twice
“Edzo” Kelly squeaked by to best Harold Schaitberger in the race to determine who succeeds him.
Kelly first pushed Schaitberger out of running for reelection in 2020 and then defeated his stand-in in a fairly close race, 146,000 to 114,000.
It was a Charlie McCarthy match-up with Mahlon Mitchell playing the pseudo-candidate as Schaitberger pulled the strings and pulled in the votes.
Alas, it was not enough, but it does show Schaitberger’s out-sized influence which is very likely to continue.
If you’re not sure about the Schaitberger influence, Frank Lima, former 10th district vice president was, by far, the top vote recipient with 178,000 in his successful race to replace Kelly as secretary treasurer.
Many will recall that it was Lima who green-lighted Schaitberger’s improper pension-taking in a bizarre report he authored.
Lima’s payday for backing Schaitberger’s greedy grab was “rich” in every way.
Neither Lima nor Mitchell would have done nearly as well had it not been for Schaitberger’s influence.
Will Schaitberger’s mission be to limit Kelly to one term?
If so, Kelly will have Frank Lima, Schaitberger’s guy, watching him like a hawk.
Frank Lima as a secretary treasurer candidate sounded as if he was running for president, and now he can, at least covertly.
By exposing Schaitberger’s corruption and alerting the Feds, Kelly fatally weakened Schaitberger but also made some bitter enemies on the board when he interrupted the longest running gravy train in history.
Schaitberger gained the support of the board by simply buying them off with raises and improper benefits and now Kelly, ready to play nice-nice, will no doubt try the same thing but Schaitberger laid the cupboard bare and Kelly himself has the feds watching, or at least we hope so.
Once again, Schaitberger’s shoe-shine boy, Frank Lima, is the big winner who is likely to enjoy board support while Kelly must watch his flanks.
Speaking of shoes, we hope the Feds have other shoes to drop as they are the only hope for reforming the IAFF.
Stay well.
