Jasper County is home to more than 3,000 veterans and on Thursday, U.S. Senate Candidate and active Iowa National Guard member Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, reiterated her support for the state’s veterans in a campaign stop in Newton.
“I am a veteran. My husband is a veteran, my brother-in-law is a veteran, my son-in-law is a veteran, my cousin is a veteran — you can see a pattern here of a family of service. And I honor their (veterans) service, they have served us so well and fought for hard for us, and I am going to fight hard for them,” Ernst said.
Ernst opponent, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, has come under fire after it was reported he missed more than 70 percent of his meetings as a member of the Congressional Veterans Affairs Committee.
Representatives from his campaign said the figures were misleading because those meetings were full-committee meetings, and that the congressman also served on the VA subcommittee on Economic Opportunity in 2011 and 2012, and he attended 88 percent of the subcommittee hearings.
Braley’s campaign also said he has support of veterans through the group, Veterans for Braley, and one of those vets, Ron Healy, of Durango, came to his defense.
“As a veteran, I think it’s wrong that Joni Ernst and her allies would try to inject partisan politics into veterans issues. To suggest that Bruce has done anything but fight for Iowa veterans is misleading and dishonest,” Healey said.
“Truth is, Bruce has been an outspoken voice for Iowa veterans — he fought the Pentagon to get back-pay that was denied to hundreds of Iowa National Guard members, he fought across party lines to improve veterans’ disability benefits, and passed tax cuts for small businesses to hire veterans.”
Braley’s reported absence has concerned Iowans since the VA’s health care system has been under fire in recent months, which was something Ernst had responded to when prompted.
“Our veterans mean the world to me. I will care for them,” Ernst said. “When someone brings up something like that (the VA issues), I am going to address it and I am going to fight for our veterans,” Ernst said.
Contact Senior Staff Writer Ty Rushing at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6532 or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.