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November 3, 2006

Dear Florida Veteran,

Thank you for this final opportunity to present my record and positions on veterans’ issues and our national security to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. First let me express my gratitude for your service to our nation and share your pride in guaranteeing the freedoms and liberties Americans enjoy today. I was born in a Naval hospital while my late father was serving the in the Navy. He instilled in me a deep respect for our armed forces and a keen awareness for your ethos of dedication and selfless sacrifice.

As a Member of Congress, I have consistently fought to protect your interests with a keen awareness for the challenges we face in spite of your many sacrifices. Therefore, I have always emphasized that “Promises to our veterans have been made and they must be kept.” As your next United States Senator, I will continue this commitment, but I can not do it without your support. Tuesday, November 7th, is the general election and I need your vote. As a strong advocate for Veterans benefits and defense issues, I am certain you will appreciate my record on these important issues.

As a State Senator and Florida’s Secretary of State, I supported the Disabled Veterans Homestead Tax Exemption; World War II and Korean War memorials in Tallahassee, additional state veterans’ nursing homes and ensuring ballot secrecy for disabled veterans. As a Congresswoman, I have improved funding for veterans’ heath care. As a freshman Member of Congress, six members of the Florida delegation and I and were able to fight to increase VA funding over the previous year by $2.7 billion. I then cosponsored the Veterans Health Care Full Funding Act for a stable and predictable method to end systemic underfunding and to eliminate the alarming mismatch between the demand and availability of services. As your U.S. Senator I shall continue to push of this objective until it is accomplished and view breaking ground for the VA medical center in the Orlando area as a non-negotiable step towards this goal!

I am working to guarantee Long Term Health Care for our most severely disabled veterans. I kept my commitment to perpetuate our sacrifices by co-sponsoring legislation for establishing new national cemeteries for Florida’s large veterans population and added a cemetery for the West Coast of Florida. Finally, my sponsorship of the American Dream Down Payment Act enabled thousands of veterans and other Floridians to become first-time homeowners.

I enthusiastically supported the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act that blocked the Pentagon's attempt to raise TRICARE Prime and TRICARE Standard enrollment fees for military retirees and their families. I co-sponsored the Keep Our Promise to America's Military Retirees Act, which would open federal employee health benefits coverage to certain retirees and their families. Furthermore, I also supported expanding educational benefits for mobilized Reservists and Guardsmen; lowered the reserve retirement age, and created tax breaks and other financial benefits for our troops serving in combat zones.

I supported the effort to end the unjust “Widow’s Tax,” which will help to ensure that survivors receive the full Survivor Benefit Plan annuity that retired military husbands and wives have earned to as well as their full Social Security. I also co-sponsored the Military Surviving Spouses Equity Act which will end another inequity by allowing survivors of retirees with deaths from service connected causes to receive both VA Dependency Indemnity Compensation and the SBP annuity.

Upon entering Congress, I delivered upon my promise to end the “Disabled Retiree Tax” by co-sponsoring the establishment of the Concurrent Receipt and expanded Combat Related Special Compensation programs. These bills ended a century-old injustice of mandated forfeitures for portions of retired pay equal to VA disability compensation received by military retirees disabled in combat or in the line of duty.

In conclusion, I believe our bleeding borders must be secured now to protect us from transnational terrorists and we must have a secured identification with no amnesty until careful analysis is completed. Secondly, I have been to Iraq, seen the encouraging progress of our gallant troops and will never support a cut and run policy. Finally, I have championed the security of Florida’s ports on the Homeland Security Committee and maintain a strong defense record which epitomizes my fundamental commitment to veterans.

As you vote in this critical election, I sincerely appreciate your support of my candidacy for the United States Senate. Thank you.

Yours in freedom,

Congresswoman Katherine Harris

I personally have been working for Katherine ever since I personally met her at a political rally in Davie. The lady is gutsy and she has the very best veterans Coalition that I have been a member of my hat goes off to Mr Chuck Winn who has ben killing himself keeping all the different vets organizations together. This lady is gutsy and I am ashamed of the GOP in Florida. If doing your job right is getting a smack in the face from your own party i personally find this reprehenceable. But the best is yet to come after the election she is going to write a tell all book about who did what to whom!

want to know why she ran thru staff simple they were working for somebody elses agenda and she founs out why and handed them their hats. Just read some of the statements of ex-employees. They are supposed to help her? Instead they going running to the msm in florida of which there is so few centerist papers it make me sick to read satfre review as a text book example of anti-republican, anti-Katherine Harris.

They are not fit to wash Katherines shoes.Or empty her garbadge cans!!!

1 each angry vet!

Whether we all win or lose next week, it's time to get rid of all the people that made illogical decisions, can't plan strategically, or are just sitting on their thumbs slacking off. The National GOP had the means to give her a leg up in all that she needs to win. Why did they dump her and exactly who made the decisions, all the way up the tree?

I personally have been working for Katherine ever since I personally met her at a political rally in Davie.

Hi neighbor: "Welcome" to a great Conservative posting forum. - My wife and I were also at Nova that evening!

We had met K.H. in our church at a Sunday evening service a couple of months earlier. I spent some time to talk with her husband Anders and his daughter Louise in our native language (Swedish)!!

We live in Miramar Isle between the Turnpike and 441 about 4-5 miles from Palm Avenue. Yesterday we went around our neighborhood handing out Election Guides from Christian Coalition and talking to people about b.n's "career" as Insurance Commissioner selling us out and being instrumental in our Home Insurance premium doubled from last year!!!