Votes of Nevada veterans crucial

Kirsten Searer

Friday, July 2, 2004 | 8:52 a.m.

Dissent is growing among some military veterans who charge that President Bush is willing to spend money on a war but not on them.

However, veterans who favor Bush argue that he has increased money for veterans and cut the average amount of time they must wait for medical treatment.

In Nevada, which Bush narrowly won in 2000, almost 250,000 residents are veterans -- about one of every 10 people who live in the state.

Democrats are hoping that presidential hopeful John Kerry's military record and support of veterans issues will be one factor in their favor this November.

"Nevada is beginning to burst at the seams with veterans and military retirees, which is one reasons why John Kerry connects so well with people in Nevada," former Democratic Sen. Max Cleland said in a phone interview on Thursday.

Cleland, an outspoken Vietnam War veteran from Georgia, was to star at a Nevada Veterans for Kerry campaign rally at 3:30 p.m. today at the Cambridge Recreation Center, 3930 Cambridge St.

Cleland, along with several prominent veterans in Nevada, argue that the lack of resources for veterans, along with a war that reminds some of Vietnam, will swing veterans toward Kerry and other Democratic candidates this year.

One of those hopefuls, Democratic congressional candidate Tom Gallagher conducted a roundtable with about a dozen veterans in Henderson.

"If you're going to send people to war, you've got to be prepared to pay for all the costs associated with it," said Gallagher, who criticized the lack of protective Kevlar vests for troops in Iraq, along with the low pay, waits for health care and what he said is often inadequate military housing.

Ron Sanders, a Marine veteran who attended the event, said he agrees with Gallagher on the issue of funding veterans but worries most about when U.S. troops will leave Iraq.

"Now what?" Sanders asked. "Why aren't we getting our children out of there?"

Cleland is expected to remain in town through Saturday to stump for Kerry's positions on veterans issues, particularly regarding the difficulties he said veterans are having in accessing the health care benefits.

The average wait now is about 155 days for veterans to receive medical attention, Cleland said. And that's before many of the veterans from Iraq have arrived home in need of care, he added.

Paul Adams, who served in the Army for more than 10 years and is state chairman of the Veterans for Bush, said that Bush inherited a veterans system that had languished under President Clinton.

Bush has decreased the average wait for medical service from about 230 days to about 160 days, and he hopes the wait will average about 100 days by the end of the year, Adams said.

"You've got President Bush three years ago assuming a system that had been neglected for eight years," Adams said. "And he's working to fix it."

Bush has opened 194 new community-based clinics and is helping to service an additional 2.5 million veterans, Adams said.

While Bush did increase the health care expenses for some veterans, they do not have service related injuries and they have higher income levels, Adams said.

Cleland calls Bush's increases of the co-pay and prescription drug costs for some classes of veterans "unconscionable."

Kerry has promised to fight for mandatory funding for the Veterans Administration health care, instead of allowing it to be discretionary, Cleland said.

That would ensure that all veterans who qualify for health care receive it, he said.

"John Kerry is letting his true colors show by speaking up for the veterans who are his brothers and sisters," Cleland said.

Appealing to veterans is a difficult task for politicians, said Vietnam veteran and Las Vegas resident Johnathan L. Abbinett.

Most Americans younger than 48 years old don't understand what military combat is other than what they've seen in movies, Abbinett said.

"We've become very much a subset of society," he said. "It's much like being a cop or a firefighter or an emergency response person. Most citizens and civilians don't really understand the issues, and that works against us."

Abbinett, who volunteers for Kerry's veterans committee, said he has issued a "total alert" to friends and fellow veterans to vote against Bush because Bush would rather spend money on going to war than taking care of people who risked their lives for their country.

"With a stroke of a pen, he'll cut veterans funding, without batting an eye," Abbinett said.

Mike Moody, another Las Vegas veteran volunteering for Kerry, said he sees the presidential hopeful as a "man of courage," something veterans appreciate. He notes that Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are not veterans.

"They see Kerry is a war hero and Bush isn't," Moody said. "A lot of guys like Cheney and Rumsfeld never served."

Adams, on the other hand, said Bush supporters will ramp up their veterans activities in the coming weeks, and, for now, "our focus is really to be positive."

"How can (Cleland) say with a straight face that the president has cut VA benefits when the facts are the exact opposite?" Adams asked. "I think that's something that gets people angry."

Cleland, however, is counting on people being angry at Bush.

Cleland is scheduled to attend Saturday morning's Boulder City Damboree parade. His trip officially kicks off the Nevada Veterans for John Kerry committee, which seeks to find 9,417 volunteers in the state to campaign for Kerry.