Guv vetoes bill to honor Malverne fireman

ALBANY -- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has vetoed a bill that would have paved the way for Malverne volunteer firefighter Paul Brady to be added to a memorial wall in Albany.

Cuomo objected to language in the legislation that would have created different criteria for volunteer firefighters and professional firefighters, according to his veto message.

"I am very saddened the governor vetoed this bill," said Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach). "New York's memorial is a source of healing, and denying the inclusion of Paul Brady on the memorial, the fallen firefighter's committee has turned this hallowed place into one of discord and divisiveness."

The bill passed both houses last year with only a single vote in opposition. Weisenberg said that he was prepared to change the bill to make it inclusive for all firefighters.

"The purpose and intent of our legislation was to put any person who died in the line of duty on the wall," he said. "Maybe we can fix the technical error."

Brady, who died in an accident at the Malverne Fire Department station in 2006, has been rejected four times by the committee that selects names to engrave on the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial.

Though the bill was crafted with Brady in mind, it would have allowed all volunteer firefighters to be added to the wall if their death was recognized as being "in the line of duty" by an outside agency. Brady's death was determined to be in the line of duty by the state Workers' Compensation Board, U.S. Department of Justice and National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

The Malverne Fire Department, said spokesman Dave Gildea, was disappointed in Monday's veto. He said that the department had been confident that the governor would sign the bill because it had received broad support.

"We are still attempting to work with the governor's office . . . in the hope that he can make this right," Gildea said.

The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York and New York State Professional Firefighters Association, which represent paid firefighters, opposed the bill.