Hartzler says ‘Bogus’ to Skelton claim she would freeze VA Hospital funding

Pulaski County Daily News ^ | 9/6/2010 | Darrell Todd Maurina

[darrellmaurina]

PULASKI COUNTY, Mo. (Sept. 6, 2010) — As a conservative Democrat and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, few were surprised when U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton’s re-election campaign began running television advertisements noting that “this year the VFW honored Ike with their Congressional award and said ‘our military, veterans and families ... have no better friend in Congress.’” However, other claims in that advertisement have drawn fire from supporters of Republican challenger Vicky Hartzler, including a section of the ad stating that “Hartzler called for a freeze on funding for veterans’ hospitals” which cites the Pulaski County Daily News as its source. Contacted for clarification, Skelton’s campaign manager, Jason Rauch, said the ad’s claim that “Hartzler called for a freeze on funding for veterans’ hospitals” stems from two sources: a March 6 article in the Pulaski County Daily News noting that Hartzler has called for “freezing discretionary spending except for national defense, social security and Medicare” and a statement on Hartzler’s campaign website stating that she supports “a freeze on new spending except for our national defense, Medicare, and Social Security.” Hartzler’s press secretary, Steve Walsh, didn’t respond directly on Saturday when asked whether Hartzler considers Veterans Administration funding to be part of national defense that wouldn’t be covered by a freeze on new spending, but he called the Skelton ad claims bogus. “Ike Skelton is a fearful lifetime politician who will say anything, no matter how bogus, to try to save his 34 year Washington job. It won’t work,” Walsh said. “Vicky Hartzler strongly supports the earned benefits of veterans and will so vote, just as she voted time and again for funding the National Guard during her years in the State Legislature in the 1990s.”

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Hartzler says ‘Bogus’ to Skelton claim she would freeze VA Hospital funding”

I wish she’d leave me out of this!