Things are definitely starting to heat up in the 2nd, but it looks a lot like politics as usual.
Glenn Nye, Democratic challenger attacked Rep. Thelma Drake, a Republican, for her speaking role at the RNC convention on Monday by saying, among others, that she voted against the new GI Bill.
This prompted Corry Bliss, Drake’s campaign manager, to fire back by saying Nye was jealous he didn’t get to speak at the DNCC and that Drake had, indeed, voted for the GI Bill.
Which led to Rick Fromberg, Nye’s campaign manager to write via email:
“Its obvious that Corry Bliss should do some research on his own candidate’s position on the GI Bill. As the headline stated on May 19, “Drake says ‘no’ vote on GI Bill was due to Veto Warning.” The message from Thelma Drake is clear—its more important to vote how your party tells you to get a nice speaking spot than to stand up for veterans.”
While I appreciate the rhetoric for the political theater it provides, I have to wonder when the posturing is going to end.
Drake indeed did vote against the bill on its first run through the House when it was loaded up with domestic spending. The principled representative has had a long-standing and verifiable position of not voting for defense appropriation bills that have domestic add-ons.
Drake, a House sponsor of the new GI Bill (H.R. 2740), took a principled stand against political posturing by the Democratic leadership in the House.
Thankfully, the Senate, including our own Sens. Jim Webb (D) and John Warner (R), led a bi-partisan compromise (read: acted like adults), and removed the riders…sending the true bill back to the House.
Without any hesitation, Drake voted in favor of the bill. According to a statement on Webb’s web site:
Senator Jim Webb introduced this bill eighteen months ago on his first day in office. The bipartisan measure– principally cosponsored by Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and John Warner (R-VA), has unprecedented support from all major veterans’ organizations, in addition to strong bipartisan support in Congress, with a House vote of 416 to 12, and a Senate vote of 92 to 6.
So, both camps are only partially telling the truth. For Bliss, it is irrefutable that Drake voted for the new GI Bill…but it is equally irrefutable that she voted against the initial bill. However, the Nye folks are completely misrepresenting the truth by implying Drake never voted for the GI Bill.
Which sin of omission is worse?
Update: Travis Burk, press secretary for Rep. Drake, further clarifies Drake’s votes with this e-mail:
“Just to be clear, Corry said that Rep. Drake voted for the version of the GI Bill that became law. That statement is completely accurate. Also, she held out the first time around because the bill would not allow sevicemembers to transfer their benefits to family members and had a tax increase. The version that she voted yes on didn’t have a tax increase and included transferability of benefits. If a number of members, including Rep. Drake, had not taken the tough vote the first time around, veterans would have ended up with a worse bill.”
So, if you think about what Burk just wrote, does that mean Nye feels that the best bill was the one that limited the benefit to veterans and contained a tax increase?
