A Pennsylvania Democrat is saying that witnessing the 9/11 terrorist attacks from his Newark, New Jersey, law firm office prompted his run for Congress, but documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show that his story doesn't add up.

Steve Santarsiero, a Pennsylvania state legislator now running for Congress, launched his campaign with an emotional ad containing images of the World Trade Center collapsing in New York City. A voiceover in the ad states that witnessing the attacks made Santarsiero realize he "had a responsibility" beyond his legal career.

"I woke up that day and the world changed," says Santarsiero. "I saw them fall from my office window. I knew then that I had a responsibility."

The images Santarsiero saw prompted his "life-changing decision to focus his energies on education and community service," according to biographies that reiterate the story on both his campaign website and on his legislative website.

Here's the ad:

Santarsiero took his time before acting on his newly found conviction. Although the ad claims that witnessing 9/11 caused him to leave the law firm and become a teacher, documents show otherwise.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Santarsiero was working at Newark’s Carpenter, Bennett, & Morrissey law firm, located roughly 15 miles from the World Trade Center, where he says he could see the tragic events unfold from the window.

While Santarsiero may have left the firm after 9/11, he merely made a lateral move to a different law firm. A review of the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory shows that in 2002 Santarsiero became an associate at the Newark, New Jersey law firm of Klett, Rooney, Lieber, & Schorling where he remained through 2003. Among his practice areas at the new firm were toxic torts and commercial litigation, according to the directory.

It was not until three years after the terrorist attack, on August 11, 2004, that Santarsiero was hired as a "temporary professional employee" at Bensalem High School, according to hiring documents obtained by the Free Beacon.

Santarsiero’s commitment to the educational profession didn’t last long.

Santarsiero requested a leave of absence for the first semester of the 2007 academic year so he could focus on his campaign for Bucks County commissioner. He had been upgraded to a professional employee just a few weeks before, in June 2007.

Santarsiero lost the election but did not abandon his plan to transition from teaching to politics. A year later he requested another leave of absence to run for a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

His request was denied, which led him to tender his resignation in July 2008, in order to pursue his political career. He won the House of Representatives seat and has been a member of the Pennsylvania legislature since 2009.

Santarsiero’s campaign did not respond to emails asking for clarification about his career path. His wife currently works at a New Jersey law firm, earning over $800,000 annually.

Jon Adler, a 9/11 first responder who now heads the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said that the campaign’s attempt to capitalize on 9/11 is "lame."

"Respect those who sacrificed and were fatally wounded that day, but don't pull it into some lame campaign video," Adler said. "That's wrong."

Adler, who was stationed in New York City on September 11, 2001 and is part of the World Trade Center Health Registry, told the Free Beacon that Santarsiero "had nothing to do with 9/11" and called his attempts to capitalize on it for political gain "offensive."

"This guy had nothing to do with 9/11," said Adler. "Its offensive to draw upon and reference 9/11—especially in light of the 15 year commemoration coming up—as a connecting piece to his campaign."

Adler said that Santarsiero’s attempt is an insult to individuals such as Thomas Armas, a former Marine who was working as a Secret Service agent on 9/11 and rushed into the towers to save wounded victims. Armas then gave up his Secret Service career to reenlist in the Marines.

He also referenced Pat Tillman, who turned down a $9 million NFL contract to enlist in the U.S. Army, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where he was killed.

Countless federal agents put their careers on hold to serve where they thought they were needed most after the terrorist attack, according to Adler.

"I had many federal law enforcement officers working in prominent agencies that decided to go work for the Federal Air Marshals because they were so concerned about the vulnerabilities we had there," Adler said. "They sacrificed their careers and their tenure in their respective agencies to become air marshals—in some instances at lower pay—because they were concerned about the safety of the American citizenry."

Men and women flocked to military recruiting offices to enlist in the months following the terror attacks.

"That's a credible reaction to 9/11, not the nonsense that gets promoted in Santarsiero's video," Adler said.

Adler said that Santarsiero's claim shows that he is unfit for the office he seeks.

"I don't think his self-proclaimed 9/11 epiphany represents the sustained level of readiness and engagement that is needed by our elected leaders," Adler said. "Neither crime nor terrorism takes pause to accommodate anyone's impromptu wake-up call, and referencing 9/11 as if it was an alarm clock for a career change is inappropriate."