MANKATO FREE PRESS
Reader Henry Sadler of Madison Lake doesn't name names while describing the problem faced by veterans seeking legislative relief, but he is explicit about the solution in his letter: "We need congressmen who truly care about veterans":
I am a past department commander for Disabled American Veterans.
It seems that our elected members of Congress fail to recognize that the price of war is not just bullets and planes but also the 60-plus years that our government will be responsible for caring for these veterans who have suffered the physical and mental consequences of war after the last bullet is fired. The war for these veterans never ends.
Some members of the Minnesota delegation in the U.S. Congress have miserable records in introducing or co-sponsoring veterans legislation. I was told by one Minnesota member of the House, after showing him 10 veterans’ bills that are endorsed by major veterans’ organizations, that “these are all bills from the other party, and I will not sign on or support any bill that comes from that party.”
Shame on him.
They will tell you they always support veterans’ bills when they come to the floor for a full vote, but without substantial number of coauthors on a bill, they know the bill will never reach the floor for a vote.
Before you go to the polling booth, take a close look at who you will be voting for this November. Remember, their records on support of veterans’ bills in the past are a matter of public record.
The time has come to replace those who refuse to view veterans issues as a bipartisan issue. Let’s put someone in Washington who truly cares for our veterans.
Gil Gutknecht's DAV rating for 2005 was 20%.
The Free Press's Mark Fischenich has an extended piece about Bush supporters (one former) debating the Iraq War. The former Bush supporter is retired General Merril "Tony" McPeak, once a member of the joint chiefs of staff, who told Fischenich:
McPeak, who led the Air Force during the Gulf War in 1991, continues to be stinging in his critique of Bush and his advisers, saying they not only took America into a dishonest war — they’ve been incompetent in conducting it.
But McPeak doesn’t let Congress escape the criticism.“I regard the performance of Congress in the period leading up to the war as absolutely without stomach,” he said.
A longtime Republican who was a big admirer of the first President Bush, McPeak is now a registered Independent in his retirement home of Oregon. He unabashedly suggests that voters need to hold the GOP majority in Congress accountable for the failure to provide proper oversight of the Iraq war.
“The Congress supposedly has the power to declare war. They have the power to control money,” he said. “In this case they didn’t do it because they’re a bunch of chickens.”
The firm Bush supporter? Former Senator Rudy Boschwitz.
WINONA DAILY NEWS: "GET RID OF RULING CLASS OF POLITICIANS"
Since Gil Gutknecht's staff member tried to erase any mention of the congressman's term limit pledge from Gutknecht's Wikipedia entry, we suspect that it's a sore spot for the six-term representative. Letter writer Jim Gurley of Winona may also make him squirm, even though he doesn't name names in "Get rid of ruling class of politicians":
When the Republicans took over the House of Representatives in 1994 with their “Contract With America,” one of the most popular points was their endorsing term limits for congress.
However, once they gained power, they promptly forgot term limits.[read more]
Or tried to make voters forget about them.
The Winona Daily News uses the occasion of a pro-DM & E press event to review the history of the issue in Winona.
NETROOTS
Democracy for Minnesota notes that Max Cleland Returns to Support Tim Walz (MN-01).
Comments