Despite rumors going around the city of New Orleans that Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) would cut New Orleans firefighter’s pay if elected governor, Vitter’s campaign team says he has never said that.

The New Orleans Fire Department (NOFD) receives a supplemental pay from the state, which the state sets and controls.

Most recently, the rumors circulating the New Orleans area have mentioned that as governor, Vitter would look at cutting the pay of firefighters. However, Vitter has never said that publicly and his campaign team called it a “bad rumor” that was not true.

The firefighters at the NOFD have been through a whirl-wind when it comes to their pay. For decades, the firefighters union fought the city of New Orleans after the city denied the firefighters a pay increase that was mandated by the state back in the late 1980’s.

The issue was not resolved until recently when Mayor Mitch Landrieu finally made a deal with the firefighters, after years of stalling on the issue.

And despite finally getting their back-pay, the Hayride exposed last month how the NOFD has been largely ignored by the city, while the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is given new vehicles, even when their old vehicles were still in good condition.

Often times, the NOFD has had to resort to using pick-up trucks to respond to fires because their fire-trucks break down on a regular basis, according to sources close to the Hayride.