Mayor Bloomberg went to Washing ton yesterday to labor on behalf of the Zadroga Bill, a $7.4 billion fund for Ground Zero veterans sickened by their service on the site — and those who simply claim they were.
But if the Senate casts a gimlet eye on Mike’s entreaties, he shouldn’t be surprised: Not even the bill’s namesake was a legitimate Ground Zero victim.
James Zadroga was a city cop who worked atop the Ground Zero pile for weeks — and later died of a lung ailment his survivors claimed was caused by toxic fumes.
It was an emotive assertion, but it wasn’t remotely true: New York’s chief medical examiner determined that Zadroga had essentially killed himself — by injecting prescription drugs into his bloodstream. Inhaling Ground Zero fumes had nothing to do with it.
The fact of the matter is that doctors still can’t tell if specific instances of heart and lung disease or cancer were caused by Ground Zero service.
So while it stands to reason that some site workers were indeed sickened, essentially nobody has to prove anything.
No wonder Congress has been so slow to act. Certainly there is room for doubt.
Consider the cases of:
* NYPD officer Cesar Borja, an early Zadroga icon who allegedly worked “16-hour shifts” for months at Ground Zero before he died in 2007. But a quick investigation found that he spent only a few days directing traffic near the site — weeks after the attack.
* FDNY Lt. John Brown, who pulls in an $82,000 disability pension for an asthma-like condition he developed after working at Ground Zero. But, as The Post reported Monday, that hasn’t stopped him from fighting hundreds of fires on Long Island after his retirement.
* Retired FDNY Lt. “Johnny Lungs” McLaughlin, who rakes in an $86,000 disability pension, even though — as The Post also reported — he runs triathlons. Now he’s joined the 9/11 lawsuit against the city that could net plaintiffs an $800 million settlement — and he stands to gain from the Zadroga bill, as well.
This is not to discount the brave work done by thousands of responders in the months after 9/11.
Without a doubt, everyone injured on 9/11 and in its aftermath has earned the government’s largess. But the Zadroga Bill does nothing to encourage honest claims from 9/11 victims.
It remains that nine years after the attack, doctors can’t conclusively identify a single person who succumbed to Ground Zero’s toxic air.
Pretending otherwise makes Mike, and all New Yorkers, look foolish and greedy.