Rick Outzen: Florida Legislature and governor are dishonoring the fallen

When the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City comes around, my thoughts are on the firefighters and police officers who lost their lives that day, how much we should honor their sacrifices and how our governor and state lawmakers care for our public servants today.

When the two jets struck the towers 12 years ago, 121 engine companies, 62 ladder companies and 27 fire officers were deployed to the scene over the next three hours. All off-duty firefighters were called in.

Of the nearly 3,000 people killed when the towers collapsed, 343 were firefighters from the New York Fire Department and 60 were police officers from the New York City Police Department, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department, according to news reports. Every fire station in NYC lost someone.

This year 30 American flags flew at New York’s Ground Zero memorial that tie together the heroism of first responders who died. Across the nation, memorials were held honoring these heroes.

For me, there is a hollowness to these events. The flags, speeches and wreaths make good photo opportunities for the politicians, but their actions belie their words.

Over the past few years, public servants — firefighters, law enforcement, teachers and other state and local government workers — have become the targets of conservative Republicans, who depict them as greedy, underworked leeches taking tax dollars that could be used to create more jobs for the private sector.

Instead of rebuilding our economy and climbing out of the recession on the back of industry, our legislature and governor are asking public servants to bear the burden. Public safety and education are sacrificed to cut corporate taxes and provide incentives and subsidies to lure businesses to Florida.

The politicians ignore that some public sector workers haven’t seen any pay raises in years. They berate the employee unions and try to cut their pension and health care benefits. More firefighters, law enforcement officers and teachers are leaving their professions because of it.

Sadly it seems that we honor our fallen heroes more than those still living.