Riverside County, CA March 7, 2000 Election
Smart Voter

Veterans' Rights and Benefits

By Thomas Roy "Tom" Harney

Candidate for United States Representative; District 44

This information is provided by the candidate
As a Nation We Should Not Be Proud of The Disparity Between the Way We Treat the Members of Our Armed Services Going Off to Battle and the Way We Treat Them as Veterans Coming Home
As a nation, we should not be proud of the disparity between the way we treat the members of our armed services when we need them for war or peacekeeping, and the way we treat them upon their return home. The Department of Defense stonewalled our Vietnam veterans who were harmed by Agent Orange, and they stonewalled our Persian Gulf War veterans who were harmed with nerve gas and radiation. If elected, I would work to remedy this. I would work to shift the burden of proof for victims of Agent Orange and Persian Gulf War Syndrome. The burdon of proof should rest on the Department of Defense to show that victims were not harmed by the effects of Agent Orange, the nerve gas Sarin, radiation, etc. I believe that I am the only Democrat candidate in the March 7th Open Primary that is a veteran. I served in the Air Force during the Korean War Era. I am a Captain in the U. S. Air Force Reserve, Retired. Veterans' rights and benefits are important to me. I think that Veterans' Hospitals are an outmoded idea. A veteran should be able to go to any hospital in the country where he or she can get the best treatment possible. I believe the government would save money, and the veteran would be treated like a first class citizen. There is an inscription, I believe, on a monument/statue near the entrance to the Riverside County Building in Riverside that says in effect: "The character of a nation can be measured by the way that nation treats its veterans." As a nation, we have a long way to go. If elected, I would do all that I could to see that as a nation we start making some giant strides.

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ca/state Created from information supplied by the candidate: February 28, 2000 11:29
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