Did you know Republicans have a PAC for electing Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans to Congress? Iraq Veterans For Congress They even have their own Patrick Murphy, a vet running for the House from Virginia. They have some candidates with impressive resumes on that website, but we know how they'll vote and we can't afford that.
Democrats have a number of military men running this year as well. We have two sitting Congressman who recently served in Iraq, Patrick Murphy and John Boccieri. Looking to join them is West Point grad Justin Coussoule and Iraq and Afghan war veteran John Waltz. Joe Sestak, a 3 star vice Admiral in the US Navy is leaving the House and likely headed to the Senate to join combat vets John Kerry, Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye.
Justin Coussoule was nice enough to join us for a Q+A on Facebook in a group I administer called Progress For a More Perfect Union. He was really impressive.
Tonight John Waltz will be joining us from 8-9 ET.
John Waltz
John was raised in a working class family. His dad worked for General Motors for over 30 years and his mom was a homemaker. The youngest of seven children, John grew up believing that through hard work, a person could provide for his or her family, even when times were tough. His father taught him the value of hard work, loyalty, and perseverance. John learned early to respect others, but he also learned not to shy away from a fight.
John enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to an aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington. His first day at sea was September 10, 2001, one day before the terrorist attacks. John’s group was immediately sent to New York to safeguard the city and the harbor.
After the attacks, John served in Afghanistan and later in Iraq. He went back to Iraq as a civilian vocational instructor teaching Iraqis to be electricians, and also worked to raise funds to build hospitals in Iraq. John realized success in the Middle East is about more than just military strength; it requires improving the daily lives of Afghans and Iraqis, and giving them the economic freedom to no longer be dependent on warlords.
During his military service, John was ordered to take an anthrax vaccine that had not been approved by the FDA. When he came home from the Middle East, John suffered severe health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder, seizures and even strokes.
Needing help with the Veterans Administration, John went to his Congressman, Geoff Davis, who gave him the brush off. As he got more involved in veteran advocacy and learned about Davis’s record, he was appalled at how little Davis actually did for the people he represents.
Despite unemployment in the 4th District as high as 18%, Davis has been content to focus on antics, partisan rhetoric, and outright opposition to any bill moved by the Democratic Congress. The only bill Davis has passed (in Democratic and Republican controlled Congresses) is renaming a Post Office! John ultimately got the help he needed, but he had learned all he needed to know about Geoff Davis. John went back to school to get a degree in government and announced he would challenge Davis.
While John was battling the VA over his own health, his wife lost her job with a huge insurance company because of complications from being struck by a drunk driver. The health problems stemming from the accident are considered a "pre-existing" condition and she is still searching for health coverage.
Check out Bluewavenews for more on Mr. Waltz.
"When I was working on veterans issues... I was really trying to be apolitical. I talked to everybody from the Republican side to the Democratic side, I tried to get people involved. The politicians from Kentucky, they would invite me out to these fundraisers, they’d have me stand up, and say ‘This is John Waltz and he’s doing this great work, give him a loud round of applause.’ Well, that was basically it. They didn’t actually want to help, they just wanted to say ‘Look, we got this great guy we’re helping out.’ But behind the scenes, they weren’t doing squat for me."
John doesn't have a PAC supporting him, it's just us. If you have a few dollars now is the time to join this fight, we can't wait until the last minute. We've raised $79.50 for John so far, I'd really like to see us get to $300 by the end of the day. I'll match $20 from each of the first 3 donations. Your donations will also go towards helping us reach our $30,000 goal for the 2010 cycle.
Thanks so much for your support so far! We wouldn't have great candidates visiting our group if you didn't help us so much already with fundraising.
Previous events were:
1/27/10 with Joe Sestak
8/19/10 with Alan Grayson
8/26/10 with Justin Coussoule (D taking on John Boehner)