http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/06/25/234621.aspxPUSHING BACK AGAINST WHITMAN
we mentioned earlier this morning, former EPA chief Christie Whitman -- who testifies on Capitol Hill today -- has charged that Giuliani blocked her efforts to force World Trade Center workers to wear respirators, and that city officials didn't want EPA workers wearing hazmat suits. On Saturday, the Giuliani campaign pushed back against Whitman's claims with a three-page "setting the record straight" research document, calling them "baseless" and "revisionist."
“Every effort was made by Mayor Giuliani and his staff to ensure the safety of all workers at Ground Zero in the aftermath of this unprecedented act of terror," said former deputy mayor Joe Lhota in the press release. "All workers at Ground Zero were instructed repeatedly to wear their respirators. This is well-documented and indisputable. No one from the City ever tried to block the Environmental Protection Agency. Any statement or suggestion to the contrary is simply baseless. Administrator Whitman never voiced any of these concerns at the time – not at the daily meetings which included federal, state and local officials, not at any press conferences. Doing so now is revisionist at best.”