NEW YORK (AP) -- Rudy Giuliani will speak at the sixth anniversary remembrance of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack, as he has every year, but some relatives of those who died said the solemn ceremony is no place for presidential politics.
The former mayor, whose handling of the disaster catapulted him to international fame, has participated in every ceremony since the attack. Some said this year is different because he is a declared candidate running a campaign that makes frequent references to Sept. 11 and should therefore not attempt to politicize the anniversary.
"He's cashing in on 9/11 like it's his own personal tragedy. It's a photo op on a campaign swing for him,'' said Jimmy Riches, a deputy fire chief whose son was among the 343 firefighters killed.
Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was also killed, said she was stunned that the city would ask a presidential candidate to speak there.
"They should have every other single presidential candidate then, because this is outrageous,'' Regenhard said. "This is going to be seen across the country as a blanket endorsement from us. It's totally inappropriate.''
No declared presidential candidate has ever spoken before at the ground zero ceremony; indeed, candidates running for local office have typically suspended campaigning on Sept. 11.
Giuliani's senior political adviser, Tony Carbonetti, noted that the former mayor lost friends in the attack and said that his activities that day are not political.
"If you know Rudy Giuliani, he'd be down there paying his respects whether he was invited or not,'' Carbonetti said. "This is something that happened to him as a person, as a New Yorker, as a mayor and as an American. To say he's politicizing it -- he never would do anything like that.''
The centerpiece of the annual commemoration is the hours-long reading of the nearly 3,000 victims' names, which pauses for brief readings, musical selections and moments of silence to mark the times the two planes hit and twin towers collapsed.
Organizers said Giuliani will not be a name reader; he and other elected officials are scheduled to read aloud passages from texts.
In 2004, for instance, he read aloud a letter that President Abraham Lincoln wrote to a woman who lost five sons in the Civil War. At the ceremony a year earlier, he quoted Winston Churchill.
Past participants include Condoleeza Rice and the governors of New York and New Jersey. They have read from poems, letters and famous writings like the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address.
The passages for this year have not been selected, City Hall organizers said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who also will speak at the ceremony, said Tuesday it was appropriate for Giuliani to attend because he was there on Sept. 11, 2001, and has participated in every anniversary.
On the first anniversary remembrance of the attack, Giuliani was the first reader to begin the name recitation. The honor of doing the roll call is given to a different group every year and has been performed in the past by children of the victims, parent and grandparents and siblings.
This year, firefighters, police officers and rescue workers will recite the names of their lost friends, colleagues and loved ones.
Some rescuers, particularly firefighters and fire unions, have a history of animosity toward Giuliani; they say that he failed to prepare the city and its rescue forces for the disaster and that the sick ground zero workers are a sign that the cleanup was careless and risky.
Having Giuliani at the ceremony alongside rescue workers who are readers is a "slap in the face to us,'' said fire Lt. Jim McCaffrey, whose brother-in-law, a battalion chief, was among those who died.
"At ceremonies in the past, he wasn't a declared candidate -- now he is and it's a different story,'' McCaffrey said. "He's been tying himself to 9/11, and you have to view this in a different light because of that.''
McCaffrey is signed up to read names, along with Riches, who said he is now reconsidering because of Giuliani's involvement.
"I don't want to be associated with anything he does,'' Riches said. "It's a disgrace and a dishonor to the dead.''
Giuliani's campaign has said that the criticism about failing the firefighters is unfounded and that the former mayor has a long history of supporting their health and safety.
Rescue workers were angered further when Giuliani recently said on the campaign trail that he was at the disaster site as much, if not more, than many of them during the cleanup and was exposed to the same health hazards.
He later said he had misspoken and was merely trying to express his empathy for their plight.
Many rescuers back Giuliani and praise his record. Firefighter Lee Ielpi, who lost his son in the attack and spent months on the rubble pile at ground zero, came to Giuliani's defense Tuesday.
"The mayor was there for the city and our country on Sept. 11,'' he said.
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