Texas State Association of Fire Fighters Endorses Rick Noriega

On Wednesday, The Texas State Association of Fire Fighters endorsed Rick Noriega. Here's their press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TEXAS STATE ASSOCIATION OF FIRE FIGHTERS

ENDORSES RICK NORIEGA

Due to for his longtime leadership and support of public safety professionals, the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters, representing more than 14,000 professional fire fighters across Texas, today announced their Endorsement of State Representative Rick Noriega for election to the United States Senate,

“It is an honor to endorse Rick Noriega for U.S. Senate”, says Guy Turner, President of the association. “His longtime support of public safety and specifically issues directly affecting the health and safety and working conditions of professional fire fighters makes him the best choice for fire fighters”, continues Turner.

“Rick Noriega is a patriot who has served our nation and our great state with honor and distinction” said Bob York, TSAFF Secretary-Treasurer. York continued “no other candidate for U.S. Senate could better represent fire fighters and the interests of working men and women across the United States”.

Representative Noriega successfully amended the Fire Fighter and Police Officer Civil Service law to allow those fire fighters or police officers serving in the military to utilize paid leave donated by their co-workers. He has sponsored several other bills on behalf of professional fire fighters and since Representative Noriega’s election to the Texas House of Representatives, he has a 100 percent record of supporting fire fighter legislation.

Mike Higgins, TSAFF Chief of Staff also noted Noriega’s leadership in the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Noriega, who served as the Incident Commander at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, oversaw the medical and social services for thousands of our neighbors from Louisiana who were forced to flee their homes. “He walks the walk when it comes to serving others,” Higgins added. “That’s what makes him a leader that fire fighters, law enforcement and public safety professionals can look up to.”

For Further Information Contact:
Mike Higgins
512-750-6131 (cell)
mhiggins@tsaff.org

Rick Noriega Takes No Time Off For Labor Day

The Galveston Daily News reported seeing Rick as he attended a breakfast supporting the Galveston County Central Labor Union, where there were three topics on the agenda: “health care, health care, health care,” said Lee Medley, president of the county’s consolidated organized labor council (as you may remember, Cornyn voted against Children's Healthcare).

Lee Medley:

“We know this is a complex issue. There is no single way to approach this. Our main goal is that everyone should be covered, maybe under a single-payer system. But, we do know that what we have now isn’t working, and it is time to stop arguing and start doing something.”

Rick also appeared at the Washington County Democrats annual Labor Day Barbecue (as reported by Hal at Half Empty). Hal, and a group of his fellow Ft. Bend Dems joined the Washington Co. Dems and watched as Rick Noriega spoke as the highlight of the event.

Hal:

I brought blanks of Rick’s petitions and Geri, Marsha and I swept through the room getting signatures. They’re a tough crowd in Washington County so we didn’t get as many signatures as there were heads in the room. But we managed to fill one sheet and nearly fill another. But I’m here to tell you, there were people who chased me down wanting to get their names on that petition.

You know, I don’t think Rick’s campaign is going to have a problem getting those 25,000 signatures.

Video coming soon.