Kirk's foes way off mark on vets issues
This week, two partisans set out to discredit an 18-year combat veteran of the U.S. Navy who has done more for Illinois veterans than almost any other member of Congress.
Unlike his opponent, Congressman Mark Kirk wore the uniform of his country and served with distinction. His service merits the decency of an honest account of his record.
I do not speak as a partisan or a politician. As the former director of the North Chicago VA Medical Center, I am writing to set the record straight.
It was the late 1990s. The Cold War was over. We had not yet seen the horrors of Sept. 11. Standing up for veteran's health care issues was not a high priority for most. But from his first run for Congress, it was clear Mark Kirk felt passionately about the health and welfare of his fellow veterans and he would stop at nothing to see that the North Chicago VA Medical Center continued to provide veterans with the high quality care and services they deserved.
Washington bureaucrats were determined to close the North Chicago VA Medical Center and came within a whisker's hair of doing it. As the Secretary of Veterans Affairs told me, if not for the hard work and dedication of one member of Congress - Mark Kirk - the future of the medical center would have been far different from it is today. The favored option under consideration at the time was to close it.
I was there. I lived through it. I was privy to many of the high level discussions concerning the fate of the North Chicago VA Medical Center. As a Marine combat veteran myself, I will not allow someone who never served to discredit the truth about a decorated Navy veteran who personally preserved health care services for 10th District veterans.
Congressman Kirk personally led the effort to set a new course for veteran's health care in Northern Illinois. Today, the Congressman's far-reaching vision of the first joint Navy-VA Hospital serving 100,000 area sailors, veterans and families has come true. Congressman Kirk should be congratulated for his courage in standing up for expanding veteran's health care needs long before others came forward.
I don't know if Dan Seals or Tammy Duckworth have ever visited the North Chicago VA Medical Center. I don't know if they care that the Veterans of Foreign Wars endorsed Congressman Kirk. And I don't know if they bothered to read Congressman Kirk's voting record, including his votes for the largest increase in veterans spending in history and his support for the first GI education benefit since World War II.
But I do know one thing. The sad attempt to discredit a decorated Navy combat veteran, a champion for veterans in Congress and distinguished legislator rings hollow, especially to those of us who know the truth.
Al Pate
Former Director North Chicago VA Medical Center