In a word: NO.
GOPer Erik Paulsen, R=TargetCorp, recently took the time to toss up a quick YouTube saying, in honor of Veterans Day (tomorrow), how much he honors veterans. Yeah, "right." Here's what his official house.gov website says:
For Veterans and Service Members
I place the utmost priority on constituent service requests in my office – particularly those related to veterans. Whether it be help getting benefits or a Purple Heart, I strongly encourage you to contact me and my staff to help with your needs.
Additionally, I’m working on a number of bills in Congress to honor and strengthen the commitment we’ve made to our veterans, service members and their families.
I am also working to address a number of issues related to survivor and dependent benefits, honoring our Purple Heart recipients with a forever stamp and I am co-sponsoring legislation to allow members of the Armed Forces, and their loved ones, to send letters and care packages to our troops over seas at no cost.
I want this section of my website to be entirely dedicated to helping those who have served our nation in uniform. Check out the resources below and please contact me with any questions.
I followed that link - and it goes to Paulsen's Press Releases. Yes, "press releases." One bill that he "worked on" is a bill that never got enacted - because Paulsen seems to think it takes a new law to enforce what existing law already calls for. But hey! Pausen sure gave it a swell name - the "Wounded Warrior and Military Survivor Housing Assistance Act of 2010"!
A search of Paulsen's proposed legislation doesn't list a single Veteran's Issue. Carrying water for the insurance industry? Sure! Greasing the skids on tax rates for investment income of private foundations? You betcha! Writing legislation to help Veterans that have served their country? Not so much.
In fact, as noted a month ago here on MPP in a post entitled "Do Bachmann And Paulsen Support Veterans?" -- well, let's look!
The Veterans Of Foreign Wars just happens to track who sponsors and co-sponsors bills that actually do things to honor the commitment to Veterans that Paulsen and Bachmann often claim to do - and they even have a swell webpage for voters to hold them accountable. Go ahead; click on "Elected Officials" an check on anyone in Congress you want to!
Here's Paulsen's page; now click on "Bills" and you'll see a list under the headings "Bill Name" and "Co-Sponsor?"
And please note that after each and every single bill to help Veterans, under the "Co-Sponsor?" header is: "No"
And if you hit the "More Bills" icon, you'll find that they still are all: "No"
But, that's just the Veterans of Foreign Wars list. How does Paulsen do with the Disabled American Veterans?
Click here to see how many bills Paulsen's co-sponsored that the Disabled American Veterans would like him to - when you're there, just click on "bills." To save you time, here's how many: zero. zip. nada.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it doesn't take a lot of "work" to sign-on and co-sponsor a bill.
How does another Veterans Organization - the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) - score Paulsen's "work" on behalf of veterans?
Their "2010 Congressional Report Card" gives Paulsen a "D."
On 18 votes they looked at - bills affecting veterans - Paulsen only voted with veterans 10 times - thus the "D" rating. According to IAVA, Paulsen had the worst voting record of Minnesota's eight House Members. Yes, Paulsen's record is worse than Bachmann's (by one vote).
When I had this .gif produced, it was because of Paulsen and Bachmann's similar records - according to the VFW. Now you know - Paulsen and Bachmann's records are also similar with the DAV and with IAVA. Similarly atrocious.
On Veterans Day, remember the sacrifices veterans have made.
And remember that Paulsen gives lip service to the veterans.
Fortunately, Paulsen has a challenger: Brian Barnes. If you want to help, here's his ActBlue page.