Man at Center of IAFF – Charleston Memorial Service Dispute Resigns State FFs’ Association Post. Jim Bowie is a Veteran SC Fire Service Leader.

Jim Bowie photo from South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association website.

SConFire.com reports the man who helped lead the memorial service for the 9 firefighters killed in Charleston on June 18th has resigned his job as executive director of the South Carolina State Firefighters’ Association. No word on why Jim Bowie will leave the post on Wednesday.

Here is what the AP is reporting:

In the statement released by the association, its executive committee credited Bowie with being “instrumental in many positive and progressive developments for the benefit of everyone in South Carolina.”

The association provides financial benefits and training for its 16,000 members.

Bowie in August was named a member of the national leadership team for First Responders for Rudy, a campaign group working for Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani.

You may recall that STATter 911 first told you the news that Bowie was the focus of a pointed message from IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger in the days prior to the memorial service. In his message to IAFF members, Schaitberger claimed that the IAFF was cut out of the planning process and that presidential politics had been made a part of event. In a conversation with STATter 911, Jim Bowie denied those charges.