The Tracy Republican is coming under fire from GOP primary
opponent Pete McCloskey Jr.
An Iraq war hawk who represents portions of Morgan Hill and
Gilroy in the U.S. House of Representatives is under fire for
turning his back on America’s disabled veterans, a veterans group
and a GOP primary opponent charge.
The Tracy Republican is coming under fire from GOP primary opponent Pete McCloskey Jr.
An Iraq war hawk who represents portions of Morgan Hill and Gilroy in the U.S. House of Representatives is under fire for turning his back on America’s disabled veterans, a veterans group and a GOP primary opponent charge.
Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Tracy), whose 11th Congressional District stretches from Tracy into the East Bay Area and then south to include eastern portions of Morgan Hill and Gilroy, came under fire last week during a speech by Republican primary contender Pete McCloskey.
The two will face off in the June primary election.
Disabled American Veterans, a nonpartisan lobbying group representing 1.3 million disabled veteran, joined McCloskey in his sharp criticism of Pombo – giving him a zero rating on 10 votes the organization considered in the interest of disabled veterans between 2003 and 2005.
But it is McCloskey – a long-time California GOP leader who was reelected seven times to the House beginning in 1967 and was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to the Board of Directors of the U.S. Commission on National and Community Service in 1991 – who is leveling the harshest attacks.
McCloskey pointed to a statement on Pombo’s Web site, stating in part, “I will continue to fight to uphold the promises made to our servicemen,” the statement read. “I have proudly and consistently voted in favor of legislation that would improve the lives of their families. I will fight to keep the promise.”
Yet McCloskey points to 10 votes Pombo made in 2005 that drew the ire of DAV.
“Pombo’s statement is not only misleading but is a mockery,” McCloskey said. “One need only compare his statement with his voting record to see that he ranks right up with the Rev. Pat Robertson as one of the great frauds of our time.”
One piece of legislation, HR 2528 – the so-called Melacon Amendment – in which Pombo voted against the addition of $30 million in veterans health-care benefits, is singled out by McCloskey’s camp as an “anti-veteran vote.”
“In May 2005, at a time when the Veterans Administration was admittedly underfunded by over $1 billion, Pombo cast the deciding vote to kill an amendment which would have added $30 million in health assistance to wounded veterans, including prosthesis research for amputees,” McCloskey said.
But Pombo, in an e-mail interview from Washington D.C., noted that that same amendment, while funding $30 million for veterans health care, would have cut $169 million in funds required to carry out military base “realignments,” which provides money for cleanup of closed military bases.
“At the end of the day, Americans would stand to lose almost $170 million in the [base realignment] funding to get $30 million in veterans’ health funding,” Pombo said. “I believe that money would be much better spent in [base realignment] because Americans would receive the full benefit of $169 million.”
Nicole Philbin, Pombo’s press secretary, added that the Congressman voted “yes” on the so-called Military Quality of Life and Veterans Administration Appropriations for fiscal year 2006, a $121.8 billion piece of legislation that increases funding over 2005 levels. The bill includes $21 billion for veterans’ medical services, an increase of $1.6 billion over the prior fiscal year.
Health care also is at the center of another McCloskey claim of Pombo not supporting disabled vets, charging the Congressman with not supporting the military’s health insurance program, TRICARE. Pombo voted “no” on a motion to send a bill back to the Armed Services Committee with an amendment to expand the military’s low-cost, high coverage insurance plan to all reservists, National Guard members and their families.
The money for the expanded coverage would have come from a fund to pay for military base closures, a sticking point for Pombo, who said the insurance is already being provided to Guardsmen and Reservists.
Four of every 10 returning National Guard and Reserve troops face income loss after returning home, which prompted a move in Congress (HR 27) to provide job assistance to veterans returning from overseas. McCloskey seized on Pombo’s “no” vote as another example of a politician supporting President Bush’s war in Iraq but not the troops who are fighting it.
“Pombo’s position to “Support the Troops” doesn’t ring true when he repeatedly votes against the veterans returning from one of the toughest wars in history for American soldiers and Marines,” said McCloskey, who served as a platoon leader during the Korean War and received the Navy Cross and Silver Star for heroism, as well as two Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat. After volunteering for active duty during the Vietnam War, McCloskey retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1974 with the rank of colonel.
But Pombo insists that job assistance addressed in the HR 27 motion is already provided under regular unemployment benefits.
“Additionally, there would have been no money appropriated to set up a new program – this was essentially a ploy without being able to back it up with actual action had it passed,” Pombo said.
The only thing certain in this initial primary salvo is that there remains more than two months in the primary campaign, and that political firefights are likely to continue to break out leading up to the June 6 vote.
