Dear Editor,

I just happened to read a letter from Kris Jeter, from Walsenberg, that appeared in the Post Independent, praising Senator Wayne Allard for his assistance with a veteran’s problem that the veteran was having with the Veteran’s Administration. I happen to have some knowledge about veteran’s affairs, and have built up quite a prejudice against the VA for its callous mishandling of disabled veterans. From the closing of WWII until the present, the VA has lied to the soldiers, and made it difficult to receive benefits. They are just as bad or not worse than the Social Security Administration in handling disability benefit claims. They load the claims officers with political hacks who lend their political prejudices to deny claims and make it just as difficult as possible to collect benefits that the law has provided. The administration law judges are not real judges, but administrators who care little or nothing for the claimants. And we Americans ask these young men and women to endure the horrors of war – lose limbs, their bodies, their minds and their lives – yet we will not force our Congressmen to do the right thing, and therefore they do not do the right thing. I invite any and all of you fellow Americans to read about the horrors of the actual fighting in Europe during the Second World War, the frozen bodies in Korea, and walking in the jungles of Vietnam at night to touch trip wires, bamboo stakes primed with fecal matter, and an enemy that might be behind every shadow, and then tell me that you are not sympathetic to those who have protected you, and will again shortly, in Iraq.

I take this opportunity to applaud Senator Wayne Allard for all that he did for Floyd Jeter, but knowing a little about politicians, and those who have turned their back on the veterans many times in the past, I decided to look into Senator Allard’s record, since he wants us to return him to the Senate. Here is what I found:

According to the Congressional Record, Senator Wayne Allard has voted time and time again, against protecting the interests of our nation’s veterans.

1. Senator Allard voted against providing $329 million for Veteran’s Health Care Costs.(RCV #175, 6-25-98)

2. Senator Allard opposed an amendment by Senator John McCain that would have extended full health coverage to our nation’s veterans. (RCV #210, 7-17-98)

3. Senator Allard opposed a bill ensuring that the level of compensation for federal employee reservists called to active duty in the Persian Gulf, was not less than their regular pay. (RCV #51, 3-18-92)

When the ledger of our good deeds is tallied along side our misdeeds, I suggest that from what I have seen, Senator Allard owes us some good deeds or maybe we need a new senator.

Jim Jameson