In the past two entries, I’ve focused on the fact that Michael Bloomberg’s hand-picked analysis group has advised dissolving the WTC Insurance Fund and transferring it to a Victim’s Compensation Fund while absolving the city of decades of litigation; the issue that is presently keeping the $1 Billion from the WTC rescue workers whose health is failing. Despite these recommendations being made in February 2007; we are still no closer to rescue workers receiving the compensation from the WTC Insurance Fund they deserve as their health continues to worsen. A transition from Christine LaSala and her array of attorneys contesting the cases of first responders and rescue workers to a Victim’s Compensation’s Fund primarily concerned with using the $1 billion allotted for the WTC Insurance Fund to help the rescue workers rather than fight them seems difficult. But immediately after 9/11 there was a Victim’s Compensation Fund (related to those who died in the hijackings and subsequent crashes) headed by Ken Feinberg who was appointed by then Attorney General John Ashcroft. At the time Ken Feinberg was faced with the unenviable task of considering those who died in the crashes and in the towers and deciding upon a fair settlement based on what each victim was worth financially and likely to earn in their lifetime.

As Ken Feinberg himself said, “It’s a brutal, sort of cold, thing to do. Anybody who looks at this program and expects that by cutting a US Treasury check, you are going to make 9/11 families happy, is vastly misunderstanding what’s going on with this program." Still, during his tenure as head of the Victim’s Compensation Fund $7 billion was paid to 97% of the families who lost a loved one on September 11th. It’s so sad that it’s almost laughable to compare that to the WTC Insurance Fund which has so far paid out one claim to a rescue worker that fell off a ladder. As Christine LaSala and Michael Bloomberg have claimed, part of the problem with the WTC Insurance Fund is that the city and its contractors are facing so many lawsuits that the WTC Insurance Fund first needs to ensure that the city doesn’t drown in decades of lawsuits. Ken Feinberg faced many of the same issues that the WTC Insurance Fund currently does. Many of those killed in the twin towers were highly paid financial professionals and their families felt that the settlements offered by the Victim’s Compensation Fund were unsatisfactory and were going to sue the airlines or the city.

Again, Ken Feinberg was able to placate 97% of those families in a short amount of time while Christine LaSala, at the behest of Michael Bloomberg, has squandered 4 years as rescue workers continue to get sicker and die while the WTC Insurance Fund spends its $1 Billion from Congress on fighting these claims. And, callous as it may sound, Ken Feinberg was working with families whose loved ones had already died and there wasn’t the same need for expedience that there is when WTC rescue workers that were exposed to toxins are becoming sicker and developing cancer like the WTC Insurance Fund is. Most telling about the difference between the Victim’s Compensation Fund and the WTC Insurance Fund is that while Christine LaSala earns $350,000 per year and has $20,000 in health insurance for her and her family… Ken Feinberg worked pro bono (for free) and accomplished a lot more in a lot less time than the WTC Insurance Fund has.