A general theme that I’ve tried to make over the last several posts is that not only are Christine LaSala and the WTC Insurance Fund squandering the $1 Billion they were granted by Congress and negligently allowing the health of WTC rescue workers to deteriorate, but also that the media has hardly reported these events. Certainly the inner workings of complex tort litigation isn’t the first thing that people want to read in the morning paper, but with the memories of 9/11 so fresh in the minds of all Americans, but especially New Yorkers, you would think more attention would be paid to the plight of the rescue workers and of the WTC Insurance Fund and how Christine LaSala has run it.

Instead, Christine LaSala has essentially gotten a pass from the mainstream media as she has siphoned $350,000 per year from the WTC Insurance Fund and paid countless millions to other attorneys to try to deny the claims of the WTC rescue workers that the WTC Insurance Fund was designed to assist. As I mentioned, thanks to the good work of the law firm of Napoli & Bern on behalf of the WTC rescue workers, on April 1 Congress will be holding hearings to inquire into how Christine LaSala has been managing the WTC Insurance Fund. Besides the publicity that Napoli & Bern have received for defending these American heroes, there have been a scant few reporters who have been investigating this story since the beginning. Susan Edelman of the New York Post has written a number of stories that paint a clear picture of how little the WTC rescue workers have received, especially in comparison to how much money Christine LaSala has “earned" from the WTC Insurance Fund. Her story from the fall of 2006 (http://www.nypost.com/seven/10152006/news/regionalnews/350g_paycheck_for_citys_9_11_scrooge_regionalnews_susan_edelman.htm) really illustrates the sham that Christine LaSala is perpetrating in the name of the WTC rescue workers. Besides Edelman who’s written a couple of stories, recently Napoli & Bern were featured in the New York Times coinciding with this week’s hearings in Washington D.C. It is my hope that the Times’ piece and these hearings raise some public consciousness of what Christine LaSala has been doing (or mostly not doing).

However, a few newspaper articles and a Congressional hearing won’t be at the forefront of the media’s attention with an upcoming election and a possible recession. Because of this, Christine LaSala can continue to earn well over a quarter-million dollars per year and fight against the WTC rescue workers unchecked. Beyond the inherent media issues, I think part of the problem is that many New Yorkers have been eager to put the awful memories of 9/11 out of their minds and presume that all the promises made by the likes of Giuliani, Bloomberg and those in the federal government were kept. Sure we hear stories on the news every night about individuals with serious health problems after working at Ground Zero, but the money that was designated for these victims has vanished under Christine LaSala’s watch and the average New Yorker is unaware of that. It’s a fraud so audacious that the media and public have basically ignored the story because it’s so hard to believe that after the tragedy of 9/11 that so many taxpayer dollars could be misspent.