Rep. Kline May Not Talk About His Record–But I Will (Dem. Candidate Steve Sarvi)
September 26th, 2008
This past week, I took Rep. John Kline to task about his record on veterans’ issues. As a result, a Kline spokesman accused me of “intentionally deceiving” voters. But here are the facts:
- The American Legion identifies bills that it supports and credits legislators who co-sponsor them. Out of 181 bills, Kline co-sponsored only nine.
- Disabled American Veterans (DAV) shows that Rep. Kline has the worst voting record of Minnesota’s House members on its bills. In 2004 and 2005, Rep. Kline received a 0 rating from DAV.
- In the 108th Congress, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) rated Rep. Kline and former Rep. Mark Kennedy as joint-last place for their votes on veterans’ issues. In the 109th Congress, Rep. Kline earned the lowest rating of Minnesota’s eight Congressional representatives. He appears headed the same direction in the 110th Congress.
- Worst, Kline thinks we might be paying too much attention to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among our returning soldiers. While suicides among veterans were approaching all-time highs, John Kline participated in a hearing held by the Military Personnel Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and asked if “we let this emphasis on PTSD . . . pull us away from this orthopedic effort?”
His excuse for short-changing veterans? According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, his spokesman says it is because he is fiscally conservative.
Really?
It is so-called fiscal conservatives like Kline who approved runaway spending in Iraq and the Bush tax cuts which have led to huge deficit spending and a $3 trillion growth in the federal debt. Meanwhile, Kline and this Administration have presided over the greatest growth of government in our history. That is not conservatism; it is profligacy pretending to be conservative.
Who pays? Veterans, seniors, the middle class and others who can least afford to. But people are figuring it out.
A poll commissioned by the Alliance for a Better Minnesota indicates that our competitive race is statistically tied, with a large group of undecided voters yet to pick sides. So I can understand why Mr. Kline doesn’t want to talk about his record. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to.
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