Republican Congressman Joe Walsh (IL-08) wants very badly to keep his seat in the House. So it's no surprise that he's aggressively targeting his Democratic opponent, Iraq veteran and former VA Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth.
What does come as a surprise, however, is that the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida, is now set to campaign with Walsh—against Duckworth—in a swiftboat style attack on Thursday morning.
Via email:
Rep. Joe Walsh and Veterans Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller to Host Joint Press Conference on Allegations Against Tammy Duckworth
MEDIA ADVISORY
October 31, 2012
CONTACT: Press@walshforcongress.com
Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL) will join Congressman Joe Walsh to discuss Ms. Duckworth's poor record in serving veterans at both the Illinois Dept. of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the federal VA. Among the topics, they will discuss the recent developments in the ongoing lawsuit against Tammy Duckworth from her time as fmr. Governor Rod Blagojevich's Director of the Illinois DVA.
First, the lawsuit referenced above has
already been dismissed twice—by a state court and in federal court—because it is without merit. With respect to Tammy's service at VA, describing it as a "poor record" is a lie. I was there. In fact, Tammy
modernized VA’s Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, to include creating its first Office of Online Communications—through which VA was able to reach
over half a million veterans on Facebook and Twitter.
In a rational world, the chair would want a combat veteran on the Veterans Affairs Committee. He would want a leader who knew the Department of Veterans Affairs inside and out. Because that would help veterans. But that's not the world in which we live.
In this world, the Republican chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee—who is not a veteran himself and who voted to cut funding for homeless veterans—is moving to keep out of Congress a veteran who sacrificed both legs in combat. And not only that, but he's doing it by baselessly attacking her service to her country and to veterans. That's swiftboating.
Unlike House Veterans Affairs Committee Chair Jeff Miller, Tammy Duckworth has served her country and her fellow veterans without fail in uniform and out. When she defeats Rep. Joe Walsh on Tuesday, she will continue that service. And hopefully she'll continue it on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
You can donate to her campaign here.
