FDNY chief is the wrong job for blatant political hacks

Detailed summary

With the city in the middle of a spate of fatal fires, the head of the FDNY should be on hand, not taking most of her top people off to a political schmoozefest in Puerto Rico.

What in the blazes was Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore doing in Puerto Rico at the SOMOS shindig for politicos Thursday, as a horrible house fire was killing six Brooklynites?

No, Bonsignore herself didn’t need to be on the lead engine or wielding a Halligan onsite, but that doesn’t explain why she was off at New York’s top seaside junket for politicians, lobbyists, union officials and other hacks who feed at the public trough in Puerto Rico each November.

Bravest brass aren’t supposed to be political patronage hires, even if politics inevitably touches everything in city government.

And when the city’s is in the middle of a spate of fatal fires — including one just last week in The Bronx that snuffed out four lives — the head of the FDNY should be on hand, not taking most of her top people off to a political schmoozefest.

Opening of the article, excerpted from New York Post. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.