Would you Give a Soldier Half of a Bullet Proof Vest?

Rep. Garthwaite spends a lot of time praising our Veterans and that's a good thing. He frequently mentions his support for them in his campaign literature and radio ads. That's also a good thing. We hope that all of our politicians, no matter their party, would fight for the men and women who lay their lives on the line to protect our country.

Unfortunately, a review of the two most important Veterans issues confronting the legislature over the last two years reveals that Rep. Garthwaite doesn't always vote the way he talks.

1. The Wisconsin G.I. Bill

In 2005, the then Republican controlled legislature created the the Wisconsin G.I. Bill to assist our Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with receiving a tuition free education at one of the University of Wisconsin or technical college schools.

In 2008, Rep. Garthwaite and many other Assembly Democrats (as well as Republicans) campaigned on the program as an example of their continued support for our Veterans. Once the Democrats were reelected and took control of the State Assembly away from the GOP, however, they jumped on board a Doyle proposal to gut the program.

Rep. Garthwaite voted along with the Democrat majority on this. If he claims that he opposed gutting the Wisconsin G.I. Bill but had to do so to pass a balanced budget, which he will likely do, he is not being truthful.

This amendment to the budget would have stopped the program from being gutted. The amendment died on a 49-49 vote. Garthwaite's vote killed it. Had he truly wanted to save this program, all he had to do was switch his vote and the program would still exist as intended today.

After the budget passed GOP Rep. Kevin Petersen, a 25 year Navy Veteran, introduced legislation to restore the benefit.

The Democrats first ignored the proposal, then stole it, and finally introduced their own plan to restore half of the benefit. Half!

This was the height of political hypocrisy:

Step 1. Run for reelection on a popular Veterans program.
Step 2. Gut the program.
Step 3. Restore half the program.
Step 4. Pat yourself on the back.
Step 5. Run for reelection for restoring half of a program that you gutted in the first place.

I hope that even Democrat readers of this blog can agree that this sort of politics stinks.

2. The Veterans Trust Fund

Unless something is done soon, Wisconsin's Veterans Trust Fund will go bankrupt in 2013.

The Trust Fund is responsible for:

* The Wisconsin Veterans Homes
* The Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemeteries
* The Wisconsin Veterans Museum
* The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs veterans benefits and services programs -- Home Loans, Personal Loans, Education Grants, Assistance to Needy Veterans and Military Families, and more.

In 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs made several suggestions, and later pleas to the legislature to solve this problem.

Not only did Rep. Garthwaite and the Democrat majorities ignore these pleas, they actually tried to make things worse.

The Doyle administration proposed a 5% raid on the fund and suggested levying a $170/month tax on nursing home patients in the state's veterans homes.

Outcries from Veterans' groups and the GOP eventually killed these proposals that would have made things worse but Rep. Garthwaite and the Democrat majorities did nothing to make things better.

Republicans made an effort to resolve this issue. Democrats ignored it.