A few months ago an op-ed piece in the Bucks County Courier Post caught my interest and not in a good way. However, it concerned someone on active duty in harm’s way and I don’t believe in making political use of people while they are in the military and in harm’s way. However, the gentleman in question is home now. I’m using as few names as possible because the point I want to make is not particular to the politicians involved, but more a general point.
The former congressman for the 8th congressional district wrote an editorial published on May 14th regarding a township official in the county who was in the reserve and while in Iraq not allowed to vote in township matters. It is not available online but it is provided in whole or in part on these two blogs:
PAWaterCooler (5/16/07)
LiberalDoomsayer (5/16/07)
I have qualms about this for a number of reasons. For one thing the former 8th district congressman believes that the current 8th district congressman should introduce federal legislation that will solve this problem. Certainly issues of discrimination are a matter for federal concern. However, in this case I wonder if state and local avenues were exhausted first. If the matter at hand is the behavior of the locally elected township board there are county commissioners and state representatives and a governor who can weigh in with perhaps more leverage than congress. Considering that the official in question would be returning to the US in a matter of months it may not be realistic to expect that legislation would move through Congress that quickly. It seldom does, especially in a matter like this which could have unintended consequences and should be thought out carefully. It is a legal and legislative matter and needs some study of the hodge podge of local laws across the country before federal laws are drafted.
It bothered me because it seemed the primary purpose was to needle the current 8th district congressman and I don’t think that is the purpose our troops should serve during wartime, to be a tool with which one politician jabs at another. It was unseemly.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Inappropriate and Unseemly
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5 comments:
I wonder if the former 8th district representative knows how much work the military puts into informing its soldiers, sailors and marines of there voting rights? I know at the command where I worked there was an specific officer who had the responsibility of getting voting information out to all military stationed there and of answering questions about absentee balloting and any other voting or voting related question.
PD, it was a township official who was not allowed to vote as part of a governing body, not an individual voting in primary or general elections. I probably wasn't clear on that, in my effort to be vague on other matters. Maybe the military's training covers some of those issues. In this case it seemed primarily to be the local governing organization refusing to allow the overseas official to vote by email or phone.
Jane, remember the case of John Pippy, a state senator from Moon Township? Pippy is/was a reservist and was called up to serve in Iraq. The Army specifically prohibits its active duty personnel to participate in partisan politics. Pippy had to get an exemption directly from Rumsfeld so he didn't have to resign his seat. While Pippy was in Iraq, his wife filled in for him in Harrisburg.
Based on that, I'd say the township took the right action. That's also likely why the old representative
of CD-8 wants federal legislation.
PD,
As always your comments are both educational and illuminating. I do remember Pippy being called up for duty and his wife campaigning for him. I hadn't noted that she also stepped in for him formally in elected duties. Thank you for clearing up some of the issues involved. I do still think, though, that federal legislation would not have gone through quickly enough to be useful in this particular case.
The interesting thing about Pippy is why would Rumsfeld care about a junior state senator from Pennsylvania? I'm sure Pippy isn't the only elected official to belong to a reserve unit and be called up to Iraq, but he does seem to be the only one who got a specific exemption from Rumsfeld AFTER the military bureaucracy had said no to his request.
Dare we think it had something to do with Pippy being considered a "rising star" - one of the few - in the PA Republican party? I dare think so.
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