XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.politics.usa.republican   
   From: zinn@reno.us   
      
   Mayor Adams is refusing to release a stash of potentially damning   
   documents showing that the city covered up warnings about dangerous air   
   and health hazards facing New Yorkers after 9/11 — unless the city is   
   granted immunity from lawsuits, sources told The Post.   
      
   The stubborn stance comes as two New York Congress members demand the   
   mayor release all records kept under wraps since the Sept. 11, 2001,   
   terror attacks.   
      
   “It has been 21 years since 9/11, and the city has still not come forward   
   with information about what it knew in the aftermath of the attacks. There   
   are thousands of 9/11 responders and survivors who have the right to this   
   information,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney said in a statement last week.   
      
   Maloney and Rep. Jerry Nadler are calling on Adams – an ex-cop and  9/11   
   responder — to open the city’s files on what then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and   
   his administration knew from the get-go about health risks facing   
   thousands of New Yorkers from the dust and smoke at Ground Zero, but kept   
   the alarming information secret.   
      
   Sources on Saturday confirmed a New York Times report that a memo in early   
   October 2001 to then-Deputy Mayor Robert Harding from an assistant warned   
   the city faced up to 10,000 liability claims “including toxic tort cases   
   that might arise in the next few decades.”   
      
   That document, still-unreleased, “is subject to privilege,” officials   
   contend.   
      
   Other documents are under review, “but have been withheld because of the   
   presence of ongoing and potential litigation.”   
      
   City lawyers have told Nadler and Maloney that Adams might divulge the   
   documents if the feds grant the city immunity from further litigation.   
      
   Adams also wants to keep nearly $300 million remaining in a $1 billion   
   defense fund provided by Congress shortly after 9/11 to pay claims   
   stemming from the World Trade Center cleanup, they said.   
      
   That fund, run by an entity called the WTC Captive Insurance Co., settled   
   a mass lawsuit by 10,000 Ground Zero responders in 2010, paying more than   
   $700 million. But, with few exceptions, it has been largely dormant for a   
   decade since the federal 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund reopened in 2011.   
   To date, the VCF  has doled out more than $10 billion to responders and   
   others deemed to have suffered a 9/11-related illness – and who waive   
   their right to sue.   
      
   Among other groups, 9/11 Environmental Action wants transparency. Director   
   Kimberly Flynn said the city is “continuing to cover up disastrous   
   decisions,” which advocates say failed to protect 9/11 workers and those   
   who lived, worked, and went to school in Lower Manhattan.   
      
   “This is a disgrace and yet another betrayal of New Yorkers’ trust,” she   
   said.   
      
   Andrew Carboy, a lawyer for 9/11 responders, said the city has a history   
   of withholding key documents. In 2010, Carboy discovered it had   
   deliberately concealed a 25-page “Respiratory Protection Program,” which   
   mandated safety equipment for FDNY personnel in case of disasters –   
   including a building collapse.   
      
   The city called the document “irrelevant,” but was ordered to turn it   
   over.  It revealed that firefighters lacked “air-purifying respirators” as   
   they dug amid the dust and smoke at Ground Zero.   
      
   Carboy’s firm then demanded the city turn over all other documents   
   “shrouded from disclosure.” But the issue soon became moot when the city   
   reached the $700 million settlement.   
      
   “This all should have been disclosed decades ago,” Carboy said of the   
   hidden records. “Shame on them.”   
      
   https://nypost.com/2022/09/10/nyc-refusing-to-release-9-11-records-   
   without-lawsuit-immunity/   
      
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