TribLive
By Salena Zito
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Sean Stipp | Trib Total Media
Democrat Joe Sestak talks to supporters at Carol and Dave's Roadhouse in Ligonier on March 23, 2015 during a stop on a symbolic walking tour across Pennsylvania on the first anniversary of Obamacare. Sestak is running for U.S. Senate in 2016.
Joe Sestak retired from the Navy in 2005, but he still prefers the title “Admiral” in his campaign literature.
And that could be a problem, experts say.
Sestak's website emphasizes his military career, pointing out that he served 31 years in the Navy. But in many sections, it refers to him as “Admiral Sestak,” as do his campaign news releases.
Department of Defense ethics guidelines say retirees not on active duty can mention their military rank or service affiliation when campaigning for federal office but must clearly indicate their retired or reserve status. The rules were designed to prevent any implication of official endorsement or approval of military members' participation in political activity.
Neither the Navy nor the Pentagon would discuss Sestak's campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, who beat him by 2 percentage points in 2010.
At an event in Latrobe on Tuesday, titled “Admiral Sestak for Senior Citizens and People with Alzheimer's Disease,” Sestak refused to address questions about why his campaign literature doesn't prominently indicate he retired as a two-star rear admiral.
“I don't know what you are talking about,” said Sestak, who rose to the rank of three-star admiral but wasn't in that position long enough to retire as such. He said he could not answer the question and referred it to campaign spokeswoman Danielle Lynch, who refused comment.
Retired Army Gen. Tony Cucolo, a former commandant of the Army War College in Carlisle, believes retired military officers make good public servants “because their natural inclination is to the serve the nation.”
“But you cannot run using your military title, and a true professional soldier would not do that,” Cucolo said.
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