New Jersey News
| Vets group has not endorsed in 3rd District |
| Posted by () on Oct 18 2008 at 12:36 PM |
Vets group has not endorsed in 3rd Dist.
By DAVID LEVINSKY
Burlington County Times
The national political action committee for the Veterans of Foreign Wars has so far decided not to endorse a candidate in the
close 3rd Congressional District race.
Neither Medford Mayor Chris Myers nor state Sen. John Adler of Cherry Hill was among a list of 212 congressional candidates
the VFW-PAC decided to endorse in the Nov. 4 general election.
The list was published in the VFW's October magazine that was distributed to the organization's members this week. The
group endorsed 116 Republicans and 101 Democrats in House and Senate races. The group does not endorse candidates for
president.
Among the New Jersey races, the veterans political action committee endorsed incumbent Republican Chris Smith in his 4th
Congressional District race against Democrat Josh Zeitz of Bordentown City as well as Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg in
his Senate race against Republican Dick Zimmer. House candidates Rodney Frelinghuysen, Scott Garrett, Frank LoBiondo,
Steven Rothman and Bill Pascrell also were endorsed.
Although the VFW-PAC reserves the right to make additional endorsements at a later date, the PAC's neutral stance in the
Myers-Adler contest still could prove influential given that 16 percent of voters in the district are veterans and Myers, the
Republican candidate, is a veteran. Adler, the Democrat, never served in the military.
Both candidates have made campaign promises to fight to increase funding to the Veterans Administration to improve
conditions at veterans health clinics and increase services for veterans. The two are locked in a statistical dead heat,
according to the latest poll.
Officials at the VFW-PAC offices in Washington, D.C., did not return repeated phone calls for comment on the nonendorsement.
In its magazine, the organization states the endorsed candidates “have a voting record supporting, or have demonstrated
their support for veterans rights and a strong national defense.”
Reached yesterday, Chris Russell, Myers' campaign manager, said he was confident that rank-and-file veterans across the
district would still support Myers, even without the VFW-PAC's endorsement.
“As a Naval officer, a decorated combat veteran of the first Gulf War, and a lifetime member of the VFW, Chris Myers enjoys
deep and widespread support among fellow veterans across the district and will be their greatest advocate in Congress. He's
also been endorsed by Vets for Freedom, the nation's largest Iraq-Afghanistan veterans organization,” Russell said.
He went on to criticize Adler, claiming the senator sponsored legislation
that would eliminate the mandatory teaching of Veterans Day and
Memorial Day and failed to speak out against an Internet blogger who
wrote a piece questioning Myers' status as a combat veteran.
“With these facts in mind, I'm as interested as anyone to see how the VFW
explains not endorsing a fellow veteran to their rank-and-file membership
across the district,” Russell said.
Adler responded in a statement that he was thankful for the VFW's
consideration and promised that if elected to Congress he would seek out
guidance from veterans on foreign and domestic issues as well as fight to
fully fund the Veterans Administration and increase funding for research
and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
Adler also said he was proud of his accomplishments on veterans issues in
the state Senate.
“As a legislator, I have always placed our veterans first, leading the fight for measures that provided needed funding and
other support for those who so bravely and selflessly served. Among my proudest moments were helping raise tens of
thousands of dollars in grants for families of National Guardsmen and women overseas; sponsoring a constitutional
amendment recognizing every single veteran for civil service preference; and sponsoring the New Jersey GI Bill, the state
equivalent of the Post 9/11 GI Bill passed by Congress earlier this year,” Adler said.
Both Adler and Myers are running for the House seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton of Mount Holly.
Rutgers political science professor Ingrid Reed said the VFW's neutrality is difficult to interpret but it may be that the
organization did not want to snub either of the candidates' campaigns or political parties.
The VFW-PAC also has previously endorsed non-veterans over veterans in congressional campaigns.
“Just being a veteran may not be the most compelling factor for them,” Reed said.
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