Miller leads ‘Carefree Firefighter’ campaign for Mayor Schwan
By Linda Bentley | February 17, 2010
CAREFREE – Vice Mayor Glenn Miller wore a “Carefree Firefighter” T-shirt, along with a number of Rural/Metro firefighters, as they consolidated efforts in front of the Carefree Post Office on Tuesday morning to show their support for Mayor David Schwan.
Rural/Metro Chief John Kraetz said all of the firefighters were off-duty at the time and were simply exercising their First Amendment rights, although that didn’t keep his phone from ringing off the hook today even though their political activities did not directly involve Rural/Metro.
According to Rural/Metro Capt. Ryan Travis, the only reason the firefighters became involved is because John Traynor was against building the fire station, which Travis says has been nothing but a benefit to the community.
He said they were passing out cards stating those facts and support Schwan because he supported the building of the station and the master contract with the town.
According to Travis, hundreds of Carefree citizens have been able to take advantage of the free CPR classes they offer and their community room is almost always booked.
“We’ve seen the benefit to the community,” said Travis.
He also said wearing a T-shirt that says “Carefree Firefighter” shouldn’t be a big deal, stating lots of people wear T-shirts for fire departments with which they are not affiliated.
When asked what he thinks their relationship will be with council if Schwan loses the recall election, Travis said the winner should ask, “What do I have to do to get the firefighters on my side?”
Mike Pedreira, who was at the post office Tuesday morning, said Miller asked him why he was for Traynor.
Pedreira said he told Miller, “We need to stop the divisiveness on council,” which he believes Schwan perpetuates.
Sonoran News asked Travis if he was aware that Schwan does not support the type of activities in which he and the other firefighters were engaged in today, and it was one of the reasons he was being recalled.
Travis said he didn’t know anything about that.