As a military veteran I was appalled by the deliberate distortion of Sen. Carrie Ruud's voting record for our military veterans and their families. Sen. Ruud's mom and dad both served our country in World War II. Her husband is a veteran as is her brother. Do you think she is not sympathetic to the needs of military personnel and their families?
She was the guest speaker for the Veteran's Day ceremony sponsored by the Jenkins VFW and the Pequot American Legion on Nov. 11, 2005. She was the guest speaker at the Mid-Winter Conference of the 6th District American Legion Family in Albany on Feb. 4.
At the Capitol, Sen. Ruud enacted legislation that: 1) appropriated $800,000 for the State Soldier's Assistance Program; 2) created a support one stop Web site for veterans; 3) appropriated $200,000 for grants to County Veteran's Service Offices; 4) appropriated $600,000 to provide veteran's assistance offices on college campuses.
She authored the bill that places a Persian Gulf War Veteran's Memorial Plaque on the Capitol mall. She co-authored the bill that provides bonding dollars for Veterans Homes. This is only a partial list!
What Sen. Ruud did that gave the DFL something to write about was voting against the DFL omnibus tax bill that contained a $734 million tax increase on Minnesota taxpayers! Sure, it contained a small tax cut for military families for our troops now serving, but we can all be thankful for her fiscal responsibility with our tax dollars! I'm quite sure that we can enact some tax benefit legislation for our troops if it isn't just a small part of the pork barrel.
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I am a veteran proud of Sen. Ruud.
Ken Meyer
Pequot Lakes
