Major Veterans Groups Fighting for Veterans Against More Cuts

Major veterans' groups voice concern over Senate health bill
ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON
By HOPE YEN
Jun 27, 2017

"What will become of these veterans as they face higher insurance costs?" Carl Blake, associate executive director of Paralyzed Veterans, wrote in a letter sent to all 100 senators. He pointed to more than 1.7 million veterans now on Medicaid — nearly 1 in 10 — as well as veterans ages 45 to 64 who have benefited from tax credits offered under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

Secretary of Veteran Affairs David Shulkin arrives at the wedding of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Scottish actress Louise Linton, at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Saturday, June 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Major veterans' organizations are voicing concerns about a Senate GOP bill to repeal the nation's health care law, fearing the impact of rising insurance costs and worried the underfunded Department of Veterans Affairs won't be able to fill the coverage gap.

While there are more than 21 million veterans in the U.S., only about 8 million receive health care from the VA. The others rely on Medicaid, purchase insurance on state or federal exchanges, have employer-provided insurance or have no coverage at all.

In a letter Tuesday to senators, Paralyzed Veterans of America, one of the six biggest nonpartisan veterans' groups, criticized an "opaque and closed" legislative process and proposed cuts to Medicaid that could lead to hundreds of thousands of lower-income veterans losing their insurance.

It joins a Democratic-leaning group, VoteVets, in opposing the bill. VoteVets launched a six-figure ad campaign in two states, mostly to pressure moderate Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who faces a tough 2018 re-election race. Heller, who indicated his opposition to the bill last Friday, says he's worried that too many people will lose coverage.

Two other major groups, Disabled American Veterans and AMVETS, also are expressing concern about the Senate legislation backed by President Donald Trump. They are worried the beleaguered VA — already facing an emergency $1 billion shortfall — won't have enough money to provide federally paid health care to more patients and say VA must be better funded.
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VoteVets Blocked by POTUS?

Since Inauguration Day, no organization has more forcefully or effectively taken on President Trump. Whether it's the ads on his favorite morning shows or the voices of veterans we've helped to resist his dangerous agenda... this morning, the President of the United States had enough of VoteVets, and he acted on the impulse.

This morning, President Trump, the Commander in Chief, blocked VoteVets on Twitter.

Here's the truth, Trump can block VoteVets on Twitter, the voice of 500,000 progressive veterans, military family members, and their civilian supporters, but we will NOT be silenced. Stand with us today:

Make a $3 donation to VoteVets today as a way of saying that you will not let President Trump silence progressive veterans and military family members who are fighting to resist his dangerous agenda.

Like General Wesley Clark says, there is no organization more decisive in a fight than VoteVets. We are one of the few out there who have actually scored political victories against this administration. But we can't do it alone. That's why your $3 donation towards our work elevating the voices of veterans against Trump is so important.

Thank you for your continued support.

All my best,

Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran & Chairman
VoteVets

VoteVets Message to POTUS Hits Hard

Did this powerful message from a wounded war veteran spark Donald Trump's latest rant? 
Mirror UK 
Mike Smith 
February 6, 2017

“That’s not the America I sacrificed for. You want to be a legitimate President, sir? Then act like one.”

The Donald famously watches TV News in the morning - so this veterans' organisation knew just how to get a message to him. 

A hard-hitting message from a wounded Afghan War veteran might have sparked Donald Trump’s latest rant. The Donald famously starts each day in the White House early by sitting down and watching the TV news networks’ morning broadcasts. 

MSNBC’s show Morning Joe is reputedly among his favourites. So when VoteVets, a group representing military veterans wanted to get a message to him, they knew where to put it. An advert aired during this morning’s show featured an Afghanistan War Veteran - who the group have not named - doing squats with a very heavy looking barbell. read more here 

VoteVets: Act Like One VoteVets

VoteVets Want O'Reilly Off the Air

Progressive Veterans Group Wants O'Reilly Off The Air
Media Matters
February 20, 2015

VoteVets, a leading progressive veterans advocacy group, is calling on Fox News to take Bill O'Reilly off the air following revelations from Mother Jones that the Fox News host may have repeatedly misrepresented his experiences reporting on the 1982 Falklands War.

"NBC acted completely appropriately in taking Brian Williams off the air and looking into claims he's made over the years. Fox News has to do the same thing," Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org, a 400,000-member organization that advocates for vets and military families, said in a statement. "The issue, for me, isn't that Fox has been caught off guard, and didn't realize O'Reilly was telling possibly false tales. That I can accept. It's what do they do about it now? That will tell us a lot about how seriously they take their news organization."

So far, the response from O'Reilly and Fox does not suggest that they take the apparent infraction seriously. Fox News media reporter Howard Kurtz published a piece featuring O'Reilly saying Mother Jones Washington bureau chief David Corn is "a liar, a smear merchant, and will do anything he can to injure me and the network. Everybody knows that. Everything I've reported about my journalistic career is true."
read more here

The same can't be said about when Bill O'Reilly denied there were homeless veterans in this country.

Jan 17, 2008
Bill-o's Assault on the Truth: On the website of the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs... In black and white... It states the sad truth about many of the men and women who served this country in uniform.

"Current population estimates suggest that about 195,000 veterans (male and female) are homeless on any given night and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year." A grotesque statistic that Senator John Edwards has repeatedly cited during his bid for the presidency. Most recently, last night.

Ok, there you have John Edwards, Keith Olbermann and Paul Rieckhoff talking about something very real and the rest of the country finally found out about this. They could have found out sooner had O'Reilly and his team forgot about politics for the sake of these veterans.

21,000 veterans lost their unemployment benefits

When it comes to politics, I stay out of it unless it involves our veterans. This is about them!

Kathie -

On December 28th of last year, over 21,000 veterans lost their unemployment benefits -- and every month Congress delays action to extend them, another 3,000 join their ranks.

These people aren't lazy. They are hard working, job-seeking Americans who desperately need a bridge to their next paycheck.

They're people like Kevin Tierney, a Vietnam Era veteran from Smithboro, NY. Kevin has applied for well over 100 jobs since the college he worked for as a security guard let him go. His unemployment benefits helped keep his family's head "just above water," but now finds himself deciding between what bills to pay since losing his insurance in December.

His letter to VoteVets concluded, "Every day I wake up is a struggle with despairing, after working hard my whole life and raising a family are we going to be homeless? In my wildest dreams I never thought it would come to this. I know we are not alone in this terrible predicament but I feel very much alone."

Kevin isn't alone. Over 30,000 individuals signed VoteVets' petition calling on Congress to extend unemployment benefits for the families like his. Add your name to theirs today.

In my state of Hawaii, almost 6,000 people will be without benefits if Congress doesn't act in the first half of 2014.

Extending these benefits should be a no-brainer; not only do they provide a floor for struggling families, but they stimulate the economy by putting money in the pockets of people who will spend it in our communities.

People like Lori from Enfield, CT who trained as a medical assistant after receiving an honorable discharge from the Marine Corps. She was laid off the Saturday before Easter last year and lost her benefits in December. That left her family with $50 a week to feed five people. She can't afford the healthy food they used to get, "only the cheap junk to fill our bellies."

Yet Congress continues to ignore her plea for help. Stand with Lori - add your name to VoteVets' petition before this issue comes up for a vote again.

http://action.votevets.org/unemployment-benefits

I've co-sponsored legislation to extend expiring unemployment benefits in the past, and I won't stop fighting for these families until we extend them again.

Thanks for being a part of this fight,

Tulsi Gabbard
Congresswoman, Hawaii's 2nd Congressional District 

Iraq veteran wants us to know he had to pass a background check

I received an email from an Iraq veteran with a video on Vote Vets.

I needed to pass a background check to join the Marine Corps and carry an assault weapon in Iraq. We should require the same of anyone who wants to carry one at home. As veterans, we're familiar with these weapons and why its so important we keep them out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. That's why I'm proud to appear in VoteVets latest 30-second ad on the issue. With the Senate set to vote on gun legislation in a few weeks, watch the ad and tell your Senators that you support universal background checks.

Glenn Kunkel said that he had to pass a background check before he could carry his weapon. Why shouldn't everyone else?
Glenn Kunkel
Iraq War Veteran
Purple Heart Recipient

Why would VoteVets spend $1 million against GOP?

VoteVets, Progressive Veterans Group, Spends $1 Million Against GOP Candidates
For Final Stretch
The Huffington Post
By Sabrina Siddiqui
Posted: 10/26/2012

VoteVets Action Fund, a progressive veterans group, announced a $1 million push on Friday against Republican congressional candidates in Virginia, Indiana and Montana for the final days of the 2012 election cycle.

The effort includes a television ad targeting U.S. Senate candidate George Allen's voting record on veterans' benefits and care. "There are over 800,000 veterans, like me, living in Virginia," says Iraq and Afghanistan War veteran David Nasse in the commercial. "Time and again, George Allen has turned his back on us."

"George Allen said, 'Whatever the government program is, no matter how essential it is, it is a waste,'" he continues. "If George Allen thinks veterans programs are a waste, maybe voting for him is the real waste."

The spot will run on broadcast and cable networks in Virginia for one week as part of a $200,000 ad buy.
read more here

Congressman Roy Blunt for his vote against the 9/11 First Responders health bill

They can talk all they want about who they care about, who they claim to honor, but their votes are what proves how they really feel. What is happening in Washington DC is a political game and they think they can hide what they are doing to people instead of for them. Look at the bills they vote against and then ask yourself if any of the people who vote against the people of this nation really deserve to be there or not. Look at the GOP votes against veterans, against the unemployed, against small businesses, against the troops and against healthcare insurance they hide under "healthcare" as if it was to stop us from getting it instead of helping us to be able to go to a doctor without having to go deep in debt to stay alive. Look at the commercials playing across the country on how they claim the Democrats have cut Medicare. No one lost benefits. The cut was against waste and fraud, but the GOP run commercials as if they cut off someone's grandparent instead of making Medicare stronger. There used to be a time when people like this would be too ashamed of doing something like this against people who rushed into help after the Towers fell, but this man just doesn't care what the people of this country think. The election is coming soon and we need to know what the hell we're doing with our votes. They think we're stupid. We can either pay attention and prove them wrong or suffer for what we get when it's too late to fix anything.


Navy Veteran, 9/11 Responder, Expresses Disgust with Roy Blunt in Stunning
New Television Ad
By VoteVets.org | Press Release
PUBLISHED: October 14, 2010

NAVY VETERAN, 9/11 FIRST RESPONDER, EXPRESSES DISGUST WITH ROY BLUNT IN STUNNING NEW TELEVISION AD

ST LOUIS, MO - Daniel Arrigo, a U.S. Navy veteran who is also one of the now-seriously ill First Responders in Lower Manhattan following 9/11, expresses disgust with Roy Blunt for voting against the 9/11 First Responders bill in Congress, while voting himself a pay raise eight times, in a hard-hitting new television ad running in Missouri on broadcast and cable.
read more here
http://www.votevets.org/news/?id=0378

CREW and Vote Vets files complaint against Sean Hannity over Freedom Concerts

Watchdog files complaint against ‘deceptive and illegal’ Hannity concerts


By David Edwards
Monday, March 29th, 2010 -- 1:28 pm


Allegations about a charity connected to a key Fox News personality have floated across the web for years, but less than two weeks after a conservative blogger took aim, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tends to focus on liberal issues has filed a complaint.

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) and Votevets.org have filed a complaint charging the Sean Hannity's Freedom Concerts with deceptive and illegal marketing practices.

The concerts, hosted by Freedom Alliance, raise funds to provide scholarships and services to disabled veterans and their families. According to an email distributed by CREW, the complaints "allege Lt. Col. North's Freedom Alliance has violated its charitable tax status by engaging in prohibited political activities. In addition, CREW's complaints charge Mr. Hannity's Freedom Concerts has engaged in deceptive and illegal marketing practices by suggesting that all concert ticket sale revenue goes directly to scholarships for children of killed and wounded service members."

Earlier this month, columnist and blogger Debbie Schlussel claimed that Hannity is profiting from a charity that raises money for severely injured US soldiers and the children of troops killed in action, and she described the Freedom Alliance as "a huge scam."

"Less than 20% -- and in two recent years, less than 7% and 4%, respectively -- of the money raised by Freedom Alliance went to these causes, while millions of dollars went to expenses, including consultants and apparently to ferret [sic] the Hannity posse of family and friends in high style," Schlussel writes.

"And, despite Hannity's statements to the contrary on his nationally syndicated radio show," she continues, "few of the children of fallen soldiers got more than $1,000-$2,000, with apparently none getting more than $6,000, while Freedom Alliance appears to have spent tens of thousands of dollars for private planes."

read more here

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0329/watchdog-group-ftc-complaint-against-hannity-concert/

VFW Lies for the GOP, Attempts to Kill Health Care

When I did this post earlier today, Officials Reassure Troops On TRICARE
I didn't think the answer would come so fast as to who is behind the lies being told. I'm heartsick. The VFW does great work for our veterans. The members of the VFW, at posts across the nation are dedicated. They are Republicans. They are Democrats. But above all, they are our American veterans of foreign wars. The political action committee however must be answering to an agenda that is not about veterans or taking care of them. Had this been the case, when the Bush Administration had two wars going on, producing more and more wounded, they would have been shouting as loudly as possible that the troops were not being taken care of.

Most of the members of the VFW were not told the truth about this. Most of the members of other service organizations had no clue the Gulf War had more doctors and nurses employed than were employed with Iraq and Afghanistan returning wounded at a higher rate than during any other war. We look at the fatalities, but while those numbers are lower than other wars, the casualties are higher. Battlefield medical advances have saved the lives of soldiers that would have died of their wounds before. This meant there would be a greater need for doctors and nurses working for the VA along with case workers, claims processors and mental health professionals. No one put the needs of the troops we sent into combat before paying contractors.

The lines grew and the claims piled up higher and higher as wounded, disabled veterans were forced to suffer while waiting. For the most part the PAC of the VFW was silent. When some in congress began to scream about the failings of the VA, others in congress were complaining there were two wars to pay for and they couldn't afford to increase funding for the VA. You'd think the VFW PAC would have been screaming about this, but the ones calling for increasing the VA budget were Democrats and the Republicans were saying there wasn't enough money to do it. It's doubtful the VFW PAC watched CSPAN.

While the members of the VFW expect to be told the truth their leadership has let them down. Having legitimate disagreements about what politicians do is part of what makes America work but when politics come before the truth, the veterans are the losers in the end. Once they discover their leadership has lied to them, they leave the VFW and other organizations. That's the greatest loss of all because these members are more interested in the troops and other veterans than anyone else in the country.

Posts have been taking the lead on helping combat veterans heal from PTSD and find the support they need. They have been doing great work but if they keep allowing some in their organization to betray the members with political games, the veterans they have been trying to help will lose.

I go to a lot of veterans functions and hear them talk about what they heard here and there or read in some kind of viral email. What they say is just repeating what they heard instead of knowing the facts. Their hearts are deeply committed to caring for the troops and other veterans but when they are mislead, when they are not told the truth, they feel betrayed by the people they trusted. All organizations need to be aware of what the truth is and what the spin is.

VFW Lies for the GOP, Attempts to Kill Health Care
Richard Allen Smith
Editor of the VoteVets.org blog VetVoice
Posted: March 21, 2010 04:41 PM
Among all of the Congressional elections in 2006, there were two that were particularly interesting. In Virginia, an incumbent Republican Senator who received a deferment from service in Vietnam was endorsed by the VFW's political action committee over a former Navy Secretary who was awarded the Navy Cross while serving as a Marine Officer in the conflict. Also, in a House race that same PAC endorsed a Republican candidate with no service record over an Iraq Veteran who left two legs on the battlefield.

Surprising? Shouldn't be. VFW PAC operates as little more than a subsidiary of the Republican Party, as does the leadership of their parent organization.

Today, that organization issued a statement toeing the GOP line on the health care vote. Of course, in order toe to that line, the VFW had to make things up:

"The president and the Democratic leadership are betraying America's veterans," said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., a combat-wounded Vietnam veteran from Sussex, Wis., who leads the 2.1 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.
click link above for more

VoteVets and CREW taking on DOD over PTSD

VoteVets.org and CREW Urge PTSD Investigation
by: Brandon Friedman
Tue May 05, 2009 at 11:57:42 AM EDT
VoteVets.org has again teamed up with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Government (CREW) in an effort to urge the House Armed Services Committee to begin an investigation into whether or not the Army is pressuring doctors to misdiagnose PTSD. Our full press release is below. . . .
Brandon Friedman :: VoteVets.org and CREW Urge PTSD Investigation
CREW AND VOTEVETS.ORG ASK HOUSE ARMED SERVICES TO INVESTIGATE ARMY MISDIAGNOSES OF SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS WITH PTSD
5 May 2009 // Washington, D.C. -- In light of news reports that the Army has instituted the cost-cutting practice of ordering doctors to misdiagnose soldiers returning from battle with anxiety disorder rather than post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and VoteVets.org today asked the chair of the House Armed Services Committee to investigate the extent of this outrageous practice.

Last month, Salon.com reported on a series of conversations at Fort Carson last summer between a sergeant and his psychologist, Dr. Douglas McNinch, during which the doctor admitted he was under pressure from the Army to avoid diagnosing soldiers with PTSD. The sergeant, who taped his conversations because he suffers from memory problems due to brain injuries, met with Dr. McNinch to learn why the doctor had told the medical evaluation board responsible for the Army's disability payment system that the sergeant suffered from anxiety disorder rather than PTSD. Dr. McNinch explained, on tape, "I will tell you something confidentially that I would have to deny if it were ever public. Not only myself, but all clinicians up here are being pressured not to diagnose PTSD and diagnose anxiety disorder NOS instead." Dr. McNinch continued, "yours has not been the only case . . . I and other [doctors] are under a lot of pressure to not diagnose PTSD. It's not fair. I think it's a horrible way to treat soldiers . . ." Dr. McNinch has explained he was pressured to misdiagnose PTSD cases by a colonel, who was then head of Fort Carson's Department of Behavioral Health.

With a diagnosis of anxiety disorder, the sergeant would receive substantially lower benefits upon a discharge for a disability.

click above for more

VoteVets show Not Alone with PTSD

"War is the thread that binds, even as it unravels." -- Scott Kesterson, veteran and war reporter
Today we'd like to tell you about an important new project that has the potential to both change the way veterans communicate and to revolutionize the treatment of combat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

It's called Not Alone, and this is what it's all about: Mike Jones was back home for almost a year when he started to wonder why the problems weren't going away. He wondered why he couldn't drive down the road without his heart racing, why he could still hear the echo of chatter on the tactical radio in his head, and why the dreams wouldn't stop. "I can do this," Mike said to himself. "I survived war. I can defeat this."Yet there he was, angry and bitter a year after his second tour. He was alone. For the first time in his life, something was defeating him. Mike's body and his mind were still on patrol. He just wasn't deployed anymore.

It doesn't have to be like that.Not Alone is a community, by warriors and spouses and for warriors and spouses, created to help find the new normal after the war. It lets warriors and spouses anonymously talk about their problems through forums, social networking and blogs. Here you can find others that have gone through exactly what you have gone through. And soon you will be able to find expert help here too.You can help and find help at Not Alone in three ways...
Listen to stories of other VoteVets.org members such as Brandon Friedman and Kayla Williams, as they discuss what war is like and what they faced in coming home. Hear how they've begun to rebuild their lives after the devastation of war. Or hear how spouses like Michelle Briggs and Marshele Waddell picked up the pieces after their husbands returned with deep wounds, visible and not.
Sign up now! Join the community. Find support and be supported in the forums.

Donate either time or money to tackle the issues that combat stress are placing on our warriors and families today.

Rand, in their groundbreaking 2007 study, estimates that over 300,000 families are dealing with combat stress and post-traumatic stress.

Most importantly, you can spread the word. Tell others about Not Alone.
Sincerely,
Brandon Friedman
Vice Chairman, VoteVets.org
Iraq and Afghanistan Veteran

Veteran's Day message from VoteVets.org

On the 11th Day of the 11th Month each year, we honor all those veterans who came before us. This year, as in recent years, we also honor the newest generation of war veterans. Today is not a day for partisan politics, it's a day for the nation to come together as one to honor those who sacrificed for our nation, in uniform.
This year, however, we also have a tremendous opportunity to honor two of the greatest veterans this nation has ever seen. With the incoming administration, comes the opportunity to send incredible veterans back into government to serve this nation, as they have time and time again.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN OUR PETITION FOR MAX CLELAND AND TAMMY DUCKWORTH TO HAVE A ROLE IN THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
Max Cleland served our nation with honor in Vietnam, losing three limbs on the battlefield. Max could have used that as an excuse to live out the rest of his life quietly, but he did not. Upon his return, he served Veterans in his home state of Georgia, and then became the head of the Veterans Administration (now the Department of Veterans Affairs). He served his home state again, as a member of the U.S. Senate. Every step of the way, Max never forgot the veterans who came before him, and those who would be coming after him.
Tammy Duckworth served America in Iraq. Duckworth lost both of her legs in 2004, when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by a rocket propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents. Duckworth received a Purple Heart and was promoted to Major at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where she was presented with an Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal. Upon her return home, she ran for Congress in 2006, and now serves as the head of the veterans department in Illinois. Tammy has even remained in the National Guard, showing that nothing will keep her from serving her country!
Now is the time for President-Elect Obama to show the nation that he recognizes it is important to bring America's great veterans into his administration. One way he can do that is to name Max Cleland and Tammy Duckworth to roles in his administration.
CLICK HERE TO ASK THAT MAX CLELAND AND TAMMY DUCKWORTH BE GIVEN A ROLE IN THE NEW ADMINISTRATION
Please use today to honor the veterans in your area – volunteer your services to the local veterans center, connect with veterans in the area and listen to them about the challenges veterans face, and above all, thank them for their service. But, also take a moment to show support for two particular veterans, Max Cleland and Tammy Duckworth, and tell your friends and family to join us in asking that they be asked back into government at this crucial time for veterans in America.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Jon Soltz
Iraq War Veteran Chairman,
VoteVets.org

VoteVets celebrates veteran's wins

Well, it was a long campaign season, and there was a lot of work to be done. I wanted to first thank you for everything you have given us and our endorsed candidates. I’m very excited to report to you that all the work has paid off, and we’ll be sending a new crop of veterans to Congress, to join those we currently have there. Here’s the rundown of our victories just last night:

John Boccieri won in Ohio with 54 percent of the vote
Gary Peters won in Michigan with 52 percent of the vote
Eric Massa won in New York with 51 percent of the vote and
Walt Minnick won in Idaho with 51 percent of the vote

They will join our current endorsed Congressmen – Patrick Murphy, Joe Sestak, Tim Walz, and Chris Carney. Also, in California, VoteVets.org candidate Charlie Brown is in a race that is still too close to call, and it will take some time to count up all the ballots.

There is, however, one race that isn’t done yet. In Georgia, neither Senate candidate got the needed 50 percent of the vote required by state law to win, so there will be a one month runoff campaign. Our endorsed candidate – veteran Jim Martin – will be in one tough battle to replace Senator Saxby Chambliss, who won his seat by smearing one of America’s greatest heroes, Max Cleland. Jim Martin will need all the help we can give to win this runoff, so please, click here right now and donate whatever you can to help this American patriot win Georgia’s Senate seat!
We have much to be proud of this year, and on behalf of all of our candidates, I thank you for your help. Because of you, Congress will now have even more voices representing those who served our nation in uniform, and they will use those voices to help return America to sensible military and veterans’ policies.

We’ve got a very exciting year ahead of us, and I look forward to keeping you apprised of all VoteVets.org has in store!

Thanks for all of your support.
Sincerely,
Jon SoltzIraq War Veteran
Chairman, VoteVets.org

VoteVets calls attention to other elections

From VoteVets
I wanted to take this opportunity to write to you about the state of the race, and urge you for some last second help.
In 2006, with your help, VoteVets.org was able to help elect four of America’s newest veterans to Congress. Since coming to Washington, Reps. Patrick Murphy, Joe Sestak, Tim Walz, and Chris Carney have made a name for themselves, and helped shape the national debate for the better with their authority and credibility.
Now imagine what things will be like if we can send them a number of reinforcements. It’s a tough week ahead to get there, but we can, and we will, with your help. From coast-to-coast, VoteVets.org’s endorsed candidates are looking incredibly strong. But they still need some last minute help.
Today, I’d like to make a last-minute pitch for you to help one of those veterans – Gary Peters, who is running in Michigan’s Ninth District. At the same time, I’d also like to make a special request to send some help to a great Marine and fellow Vietnam Veteran, Jack Murtha, in his re-election.
CLICK HERE TO HELP GARY PETERS MAKE IT TO WASHINGTON, AND KEEP JACK MURTHA THERE!
Gary Peters served as a Lieutenant Commander and a Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist in the United States Navy Reserve. His reserve duty included time in the Persian Gulf supporting Operation Southern Watch, and he served overseas during increased military activity following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. During his service he received numerous awards and citations, including the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal.
Various media outlets have praised Peters. He has been called a "lone ranger" in the fight against special interests. The Oakland Press called Peters "one of the 'doers' in the Senate"….and noted that he is "bright, energetic and sensible." The Detroit News described him as "an All-American guy" who is "…intelligent, articulate and genuine, and in politics for what he can give, not what he can get". With your help, he will also be praised as one of America’s finest Members of Congress.
And, we all know the kind of grit that Jack Murtha has shown in Congress, for years. Because Jack is one tough customer, the other side has decided to do what they do best – smear him. This strategy started years ago, on the floor of the House, when one of his colleagues from the other side of the aisle went down to the floor and called Jack - a Marine and Vietnam Veteran - a “coward” who wanted to “cut and run.” And, that strategy of slime continues today with even more ferocity. Jack is in a tough race this year because of it, and he needs our help.
CLICK HERE TO HELP PETERS AND MURTHA!
We have under one week, now. Under one week to change the face of Congress, and send even more of America’s veterans to Congress. Let’s make it happen.
Sincerely,
Bob KerreyFormer U.S. Senator, NebraskaVietnam VeteranBoard of Advisors, VoteVets.org