Stephen Cassidy

Stephen Cassidy is the President of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Fire Department of New York firefighters.

Cassidy is a vocal critic of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's record of response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

He charges that Giuliani's reputation of a hero or as "America's Mayor" is an undeserved myth. He has key appearances in the International Association of Fire Fighters' video, Rudy Giuliani: Urban Legend, released on July 11, 2007 to fire departments across the U.S. The DVD rebroadcasts images of the collapsing Twin Towers. The video outlines New York firefighters' complaints against Giuliani. In the video, Cassidy said, "The things that we needed to do our jobs even better, we didn't have, because of his administration." He added, "On the heroic memory of 343 dead firefighters, he wants to run for president of the United States. It's a disgrace." Many other present and former IAFF leaders and firefighters from New York City appear in the video. He faulted the 9/11 Commission for its treatment of Giuliani, "The 9/11 Commission gave Rudy Giuliani a pass, not asking him tough questions about what he knew, when he knew it or why he failed to provide respirators to firefighters and other first responders." He said that the lack of respirators led to exposure of first responders to fatal or otherwise serious pathogens.

He has criticized the reduction of the number of firehouses in Brooklyn while up to 60,000 units of housing are planned for waterfront areas of Brooklyn.

In 2007, he sided with the Fire Department and the city of New York in a Federal lawsuit initiated by the Vulcan Society of black firefighters, which charged that the written entrance exams had disparate impact on minority candidates.

He endorsed president George W. Bush in his 2004 re-election bid. In mid-July, 2007, he and former New York Senator Alphonse D'Amato had what Marcia Kramer of WCBS-TV called a friendly breakfast with potential Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson.