The state leader of a veterans advocacy group lauded the record of U.S. Sen. Patty Murray in a Wednesday visit to Vancouver, calling her “one of the best friends veterans have ever had.”
Rick Hegdahl opened a three-city tour by VoteVets.org, which says it is examining the records of the Seattle Democrat and Dino Rossi, her Republican opponent, on issues of interest to veterans.
“It’s important to support people who support veterans,” Hegdahl said.
Wednesday’s event at the O.O. Howard House focused on Murray’s role in preserving Vancouver’s Veterans Affairs campus, just a few blocks away.
The site was targeted for closure in 2003 by a government panel, but Murray led the push-back that kept the Vancouver medical center in business.
“She got a full-court press going,” said former Vancouver Barracks Commander and former Mayor Royce Pollard, one of the local veterans at the event.
The VA campus “would not be here without Sen. Patty Murray,” Pollard said. “It has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat.”
“In contrast,” Hegdahl said during his remarks, “Dino Rossi has never shown a whole lot of interest in veterans or what we’re going through.
“It would be comforting to say we had a friend on the other side of the aisle, but we don’t,” Hegdahl said.
In remarks forwarded by his campaign office, Rossi said, “My opponent has garnered her share of recognition on veterans’ issues.
“Unfortunately,” the web-page statement said, “few Senators follow up or provide in-depth oversight of Department of Veterans Affairs funding,” creating claims backlogs and bottlenecks in the appeals process. Rossi was quoted as saying, “As your U.S. Senator, I will follow up and ask the tough questions to make sure that we are honoring our commitment to veterans and work to find solutions.”
VoteVets.org describes itself as a pro-military organization of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Its website lists the primary goal of the group and its political action committee as getting veterans of those wars elected to public office, regardless of political party. The VoteVets.org website lists 10 races in which it is supporting “our candidates,” all running to keep or win spots in the U.S. Congress.
Murray isn’t on that list, and “this is not an endorsement event,” Hegdahl said.
He explained this week’s appearances by saying, “It’s important to let people know what veterans think.”
Hegdahl retired from the U.S. Navy in 2006 after 24 years of service, including two tours in Kuwait as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Hegdahl is scheduled to be in Seattle today to talk about unemployment among veterans, with the impact of homelessness and unemployment upon veterans on the agenda for Friday’s stop in Spokane.
Murray visited Vancouver three weeks ago to discuss funding for a program to help homeless veterans — particularly women vets.
VoteVets.org was described as “left-leaning” by the politifact.com website run by the St. Petersburg Times. However, “We supported Chuck Hagel,” Hegdahl said, referring to the former Republican senator from Nebraska and a Vietnam War veteran.
Tom Vogt: 360-735-4558 or tom.vogt@columbian.com.
