Activist Diane Cotter is calling out those whom she believes abandoned the fight to protect firefighters from cancer when it mattered most.
Cotter has set her aim on Vice President Kamala Harris and the former International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) leadership. She contends that they have ignored the dangers of cancer-causing chemicals in fire gear.
Cotter said she was ignored when she approached then-Sen. Harris’ office with her packet of materials, attempting to get the senator to support legislation to protect firefighters from carcinogenic per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination in their turnout gear.
Asked if the then-California senator’s inaction amounted to cowardice, Cotter answered with an unequivocal “Yes.”
In her view, Harris has suddenly taken up the cause of so-called “forever chemicals” only now that she sees the political coast as clear.
Harris has appeared before the IAFF as they have established a legislative priority to oppose PFAS contamination in bunker gear, advocated for compensation for military PFAS victims, and even attacked Donald Trump for being insufficiently strong against PFAS contamination in water.
However, in the late 2010s, a period Cotter describes as “the war years,” she said the union did not tolerate discussion of PFAS contamination in turnout gear, and its leadership would not have tolerated it from their congressional allies.
As Cotter has explained, there was a cozy relationship between the IAFF’s top brass led by then-President Harold Schaitberger and the gear/chemical manufacturers. The relationship, she explained, was defined by perks and incentive programs that the industry offered to those in the leadership of fire organizations that made decisions about ordering gear.
This is why she was both isolated and attacked by those in union leadership when she first started speaking out on PFAS in turnout gear, Cotter added.
Cotter had become interested in the topic in 2014 when her husband, Captain Paul Cotter, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
After a long journey, previously reported on by The Dallas Express, Cotter met with some of the nation’s leading physicists, who conducted studies confirming large quantities of PFAS in turnout gear.
These findings contradicted what the manufacturers told Cotter at that time and what the IAFF reportedly said about PFAS contamination.
Contemporaneously, European organizations were banning PFOAs, a type of PFAS, from their gear because of concerns they were causing cancer in firefighters.
Cotter sees the national union’s willingness to deny the presence of PFAS in turnout gear despite the studies and actions of European health agencies as another example of the labor organization’s overly cozy relationship with manufacturers such as 3M and Lion Gear.
“[E]very congressional would look to see what the union was saying about [PFAS contamination in turnout gear],” Cotter said.
“In 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, the union was promulgating the DuPont propaganda of ‘there’s nothing wrong with your turnout gear.’ The statements would come out by Harold Sheitberger, leader of the IAFF, that they had spoken to DuPont, and all was well,” she added.
During this time, Cotter explained that getting legislators to work with her was extremely difficult. Less than a handful came to her aid, and most “senators that we were working with wouldn’t say our name.”
However, she recognizes the courage of some senators, such as Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jeane Shaheen (D-NH), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH), as well as Congressmen Jim McGovern (D-Mass) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn), for standing by her when she found it most difficult.
Schaitberger’s top deputies, including those from California, had well-established relationships with then-Sen. Harris, which the Vice President confirmed during her speech at the IAFF. One even served as an elector when she was elected vice president.
In an excerpt from Cotter’s diary shared with DX shortly after hearing that speech, Cotter wrote: “now I get it.”
She later explained to DX that it was no longer difficult for her to figure out who Harris called after she approached Harris’ office and why Harris stood down on the issue.
In the diary entry, Cotter laments her naivete and her belief there was a “long shot” possibility Harris would do something with the materials Cotter had left after her meeting with the senator’s aides.
However, a lot has changed since then.
Schaitberger was swept out of power on the tails of an unrelated matter, and he was replaced by Ed Kelly, a general president who has been more engaged in research on the dangers of PFAS in turnout gear.
DuPont de Nemours has merged with other companies and spun off. In its current iteration, which has only existed since 2019, DuPont has denied producing two types of PFAS and any wrongdoing to DX.
Harris eventually co-sponsored legislation regarding firemen and PFAS in 2019, but the bill did not become law and, as Cotter stressed, Harris did not sponsor it until “the third round.”
The national union’s relationship with Harris has cooled.
Despite Harris having spoken to the IAFF and later her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, giving an address to the organization, the IAFF shocked many observers by not endorsing Harris or her Republican competitor, former President Donald Trump.
Local chapters of firefighters’s unions have been conflicted.
The California fireman’s union endorsed Harris, while several New York City Fire Department members appeared in uniform on stage during Trump’s recent rally at Madison Square Garden.
“It is my greatest hope that we finally get the congressional hearings,” Cotter said about what she believed was going on in the Schaitberger administration of the IAFF.
However, Cotter’s hope depends partly on who controls the presidency and Congress.
Trump and Harris are tied or within the polling margin of error in many swing states, and polls appear to indicate that the House and Senate could be nearly evenly split after the November 5 general election.
DX has extensively covered Harris’ campaign contributions. After our interview with Cotter, DX uncovered figures from campaign finance watchdog Open Secrets that indicate Harris’ presidential campaign has financial ties to the manufacturers Cotter takes issue with.
Harris’ campaign is the second largest federal recipient of contributions from the networks of gear manufacturer 3M and chemical producer DuPont Co. These disbursements value around $90,000 combined.
Trump’s campaign also reportedly received donations from these networks, but the combined dollar value was just $8,000.
Open Secrets did not list any data for this election cycle for Lion Apparel, commonly referred to as Lion Gear, or various manufacturers such as Bristol. Therefore, the extent of any relationship between the campaigns and these organizations is not publicly known.
In compliance with federal law, corporations do not give directly to candidate’s campaigns. Rather, they give through a network of employees, associates, PACs, and other connections.
DX shared these figures with Cotter, who responded in part, “let this be a lesson to the Harris campaign. You’ve shown us exactly who you are. Accepting $26,000 from DuPont while seeking the endorsement of the cancer ridden fire service — you’ve shown injurious leadership to my community… #MAGA #MAHA.”
MAHA is an acronym for “Make America Healthy Again.”
The IAFF and the Harris campaign were contacted as part of the production of this story; however, neither responded by the time of publication.
Cotter’s full comments can be heard on the Cowtown Caller podcast.