Reichert's Voting Record Rated "D+" by Veteran Groups
But at the end of the day his votes just don't measure up to the talk. He doesn't walk the walk.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASESo how does Dave Reichert rate? Poorly:
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
CONTACT: Will Coghlan, IAVA
212-982-9699, will@iava.org
86 Members of Congress Score "D" or "F" on Issues that Matter to Iraq and Afghanistan Vets
-- Your Elected Officials Claim to "Support the Troops" --
Here are the Facts.
NEW YORK - Do your elected officials really support the troops? There's an easy way to find out. The nation's largest organization of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans has released the first-ever Congressional Ratings guide to score members of Congress on their votes regarding issues that matter to US troops, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and military families.
The results are startling, with fewer than one-quarter of House and Senate members scoring an "A".
"Every member of Congress claims to support the troops, but this guide shows us that more often than not, the rhetoric does not match the reality," said Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq War veteran and the founder and executive director of IAVA: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "A legislator's low score can be directly linked to the unnecessary hardship that US troops, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, and military families often face. There is no excuse for a low score."
"Our nationwide network of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have expressed overwhelmingly consistent positions on issues ranging from VA funding, to body armor, to TRICARE health insurance for National Guard and Reserve troops," Rieckhoff said. "IAVA used those positions to determine whether each member of Congress has been a friend, or foe, of our men and women in uniform."
IAVA surveyed the 107th, 108th and 109th Congressional sessions, tallying more than 300 votes on issues that matter to America's men and women in uniform, our new veterans and our military families. To see the full list of votes included in the ratings, go to http://www.iavaactionfund.org/.
"This should be a wake-up call for every American who thinks Congress is doing all it can for those who have sacrificed so much," Rieckhoff said. "In the coming weeks, we'll be urging all Americans to check their legislators' scores, and demand accountability from anyone receiving less than an "A" grade. We should all demand more from our elected officials."
To find the Congressional Ratings and learn more about the rating process, visit http://www.iavaactionfund.org/. For more information, or to schedule and interview with Paul Rieckhoff or any of the other IAVA member veterans, please contact Will Coghlan at (212)-982-9699 or will@iava.org.
Furthermore, the Disabled Veterans of America (DAV) scorecard has him scoring low for his failure to support a measure to strengthen H.R.5122
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 (05/11/2006, Roll Call No. 144)Six Republicans and all the Democrats voted in favor of the motion, but not Reichert who stayed loyal to his party and joined 219 other Republicans in smacking the motion down.
05/11/2006 -- Rejected the Salazar motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on Armed Services with instructions to include language that would eliminate the requirement that widows and orphans of deceased or fully disabled military personnel who receive pensions under the DoD's Survivor Benefits Program have those benefits reduced by the amount received from the VA Dependent and Indemnity Compensation program to report it back to the House forthwith with an amendment, by a recorded vote of 202 ayes to 220 noes, Roll No. 144.
Dave Reichert wants you to believe he supports the troops, but those veterans groups who needed the support of his votes in Congress over the past two years, see things differently.
You can talk the talk, tell stories of bravado and leadership, but when you fail to walk the walk, you turn those in need into mere political pawns and window dressing for a campaign as Reichert has.
Now it is time for those veterans to vote with their ballots and walk Reichert and his Republican colleagues right out of Congress.
Posted at 10/24/2006 09:15:00 PM PT
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2 Comment(s):
Its interesting to see the different groups start to rate candidates; across the board, on many ratings, Reichert just isn't doing well.
Unfortunately, our local newspapers, even the PI, don't seem to want to report on anything that they didn't write themselves.
The sad part about this is that when you start to put all the individual ratings, scorings, and endorsements together, you start to develop a very compelling argument for selecting a particular candidate, in this case Darcy Burner.
Although I'm really excited about how individual and group blogs are pasting all the facts together, its a letdown that only bloggers and blog readers may be hearing this more complete story.
For a long time there seemed to be an argument that blogs didn't report the news, and instead only represented a partisan viewpoint. But over that last few months, its become clear that real story of the elections isn't being covered by our local newspapers to much depth.
Many days I'll scan our local papers to see if there is any election news. But most often, I just check our local NW blogs instead. While I don't think that any one blog has a lock on the latest goings on, collectively, they manage to catch a lot of info that you just won't see elsewhere. Unfortunately, the local newspapers don't seem to be picking up on this rich source of data.
An example of mainstream media that is up to date on the latest goings on is Keith Olbermann. Although he only can hit on few isolated items each day due to time limitation, his information is fresh and current. I think that local newspapers could make this same leap, but haven't. I think if they want to survive longer term, they are going to have to do more than just report what AP publishes everday. I don't think that this would be that hard to do for the newspapers, but right now they are not trying.
The net result is that bulk of the population still doesn't have a good idea what is going on concerning our local candidates, what they stand for, and how they are viewed by the community.
While it isn't a blog's responsibilty to inform the larger general public, I beleive that it is the responsibility of the local newspapers, and right now they are doing a poor job. While I commend the PI for their great job a few weeks ago on their investigative report concerning Dave Reicherts background, there must be something between this type article and an AP story; but right now there doesn't seem to be.
CoolAqua
What you say is so true. For myself, I get my in depth news from blogs more than newspapers and TV. TV is push technology, newspapers aren't disecting issues and candidates closely enough most of the time, and bloggers never stop doing so. My recent experience covering the Newcastle Chamber Candidates Forum showed me that I could write an article on it with more depth and insight than the local media, and get it out faster. When we all start doing that, what's left for the media to do?
They really need to step it up.
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