By Roger McKinney
‘Tis the season.
The monthlong filing period for candidates for the U.S. Senate seat that is being vacated by the retirement of Christopher “Kit” Bond this year only opened last week, but the central and peripheral campaigns for federal offices most likely have been in gear for quite some time.
Two veterans of the Iraq war were in Joplin on Friday pushing against U.S. dependence on foreign oil and for legislation they say would bolster clean-energy alternatives.
“The reason why we are entangled in the Middle East is because of our addiction to oil,” said Sgt. Chris Miller, of Carbondale, Ill. Miller served two Army tours in Iraq and has a Purple Heart after being injured by a roadside bomb. “As long as we need oil, we’re going to be embroiled in conflict.”
U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri’s 7th District, and Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, are the leading contenders for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Bond.
The veterans’ appearance at the Joplin Veterans of Foreign Wars post was part of an effort called Operation Free and billed the National Veterans for American Power Tour.
The two are critical of Blunt’s acceptance of contributions from oil interests. Miller appears in an ad on You Tube that will appear on local television stations that seeks stronger support from Sen. Claire McCaskill.
Cost of gas
“What does a tank of gas cost?” Miller asked, noting that it costs some $45 to fill up. “The real cost is much more than that. The cost is American lives.”
He said Missourians should ask Blunt to change his vote against environmental legislation.
Miller and Iraq war veteran Nick Breeze said some of the sophisticated bombs being used in Iraq require money and technological know-how to create. Breeze, an Army veteran, served in Iraq in 2003.
“The money and technology had to come from somewhere,” Breeze said. “They came from profits from foreign oil.”
Breeze, of Tallahassee, Fla., said we have the ability to reduce foreign oil dependency through clean-energy legislation and reform. He said those efforts include relying more on wind and solar power.
“They’re taking money from oil companies,” Breeze said of Blunt and other politicians. “They’re not acting on behalf of Americans, but of other interests.”
According to OpenSecrets.org, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics, Blunt has taken campaign contributions totaling $460,198 from the oil and gas industry throughout his political career.
Group’s background
Operation Free is supported by the Truman National Security Project. Its president and chief executive officer, Rachel Kleinfeld, is a Democratic activist who established the group following the 2004 elections to counteract Republican positions on national security. The information is from forward.com, the Web site of the Jewish Weekly Forum newspaper, on June 3, 2005.
Dave Solimini, media director for the Truman National Security Project, said the group is nonpartisan.
The effort also is connected with VoteVets, a group that has launched a $2 million advertising campaign, also urging passage of an energy bill and tying the issue to national security.
Breeze said McCaskill hasn’t taken a strong position on environmental legislation in Congress.
“I would ask that she step up and be more of a leader,” Breeze said.
The group also was critical of U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo.
Politicians respond
A spokesman for Skelton said he won’t respond to the veterans’ remarks.
Rich Chrismer, with Blunt’s Senate campaign, said the campaign has formed a group called Veterans for Blunt as a response to what he called false attacks.
“This is an extreme left-wing group that is supporting Robin Carnahan because she supports the cap and trade national energy tax,” Chrismer wrote in an e-mail to the Globe. “Roy Blunt voted against cap and tax. The Carnahan tax would destroy 32,000 jobs in the first year and cause Missourians’ electricity bills to skyrocket by hundreds and hundreds of dollars every year.”
McCaskill issued an e-mail response.
“Every American is anxious to cut our dependence on foreign oil, but we also have to be mindful of families on fixed incomes, small businesses and our ability to compete in a worldwide economy,” McCaskill wrote.
Tour bus
The National Veterans for American Power Tour came to Joplin in a bus powered by biodiesel.
