By Alex Roarty
PoliticsPA
roarty@politicspa.com

Two southeast Democratic congressional candidates are betting that supporting repeal of the miliatry’s ”Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which the U.S. House approved late last week, is a political winner in the fall against GOP opponents who continue to say they don’t, not yet at least, support the measure.

The House, behind a measure spearheaded by southeast Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, approved the repeal 229-186 late Thursday night. Hours later, just past midnight Friday, Democrat Manan Trivedi’s campaign issued a press release touting the measure and highlighting the candidate’s service as a battlefield surgeon with the U.S. Navy.

“When we crossed into Iraq in 2003, we never once looked to our left or right and worried about someone’s sexual orientation, their race, gender, religion or otherwise,” said Trivedi. “The only thing that mattered to us was whether or not each of them were prepared and able to perform their duties and complete the mission.

“As we move into the Memorial Day weekend, I honor every single American who has stood up to serve and has paid the ultimate price out of one simple ideal; love for their country,” he added.

Trivedi faces Republican Jim Gerlach in the southeast 6th District, a race seen as tough but winnable for the Democrat as he takes on the longtime incumbent. The district’s leftward tilt — it supported President Obama by 17 points in 2008 — made Gerlach a possible candidate to cross party lines and support the repeal.

But in a statement, the congressman said supporting the measure is premature until the Department of Defense finishes a study in December on the policy’s effect, sentiment many Republicans nationwide expressed before and after the vote.

“Voting on this issue six months before Defense Secretary Robert Gates is scheduled to issue a thorough review of the policy and how best to implement any changes does nothing to improve the security of our country or the morale of the brave men and women serving in our military,” Gerlach said in a statement.

“The only thing this vote does is ignore the recommendations of Secretary Gates, Marine Commandant James Conway and other military leaders who have asked Congress for adequate time to survey our troops on this issue and determine what impact changes to the policy would have on our military’s readiness and ability to recruit and retain service members.”

The congressman’s statement didn’t satisfy Trivedi’s campaign manager, Ed Niles, who cited his candidate’s military service as evidence he can speak knowledgeably about the issue.

“Congressman Gerlach will have to answer for himself on why he voted against allowing qualified members of the military to serve their country, and against saving taxpayers’ money,” said Niles. “As an Iraq War veteran, Manan Trivedi is the only candidate with military experience, so we’re confident that he actually speaks with an understanding of the issue. We can’t say the same for Jim Gerlach.”

The same division played out in the neighboring 7th Congressional District, which features a battle between Democrat Bryan Lentz and Republican Pat Meehan.

Lentz, who is also a veteran, supports DADT’s immediate repeal, said campaign manager Vincent Rongione, because the policy has led to the dismissal of hundreds of qualified service members. ‘

“As an Iraq war veteran and former Airborne Ranger who served multiple tours overseas, Bryan understands that the US military must recruit and retain the best qualified and most capable people possible in order to keep our nation safe,” said the campaign manager. “That is why he agrees with the 187 members of Congress and more over 100 retired Generals and Admirals who believe it is time to rethink our ‘Don’t ask, Don’t tell policy’ and support the Military Readiness Enhancement Act.

“The current discriminatory policy has lead to the dismissal of over 800 mission-critical troops in the last five years alone and that is unacceptable, unsustainable and unsafe for the American people,” Rongione added.

“We need to give the military the opportunity to complete the comprehensive review that it was asked to undertake before Congress pulls the rug out from under the service chiefs,” the ex-U.S. attorney said in a statement. “Congress has rammed this legislation through and will worry about the consequences later, just as it did with the healthcare legislation. It would have been prudent to allow this assessment to be completed before Congress took action.”

A spokesman for the Meehan campaign clarified that the candidate personally hasn’t decided whether he’ll support the measure until he reviews the military’s report.

Repeal for DADT appears to have strong support nationwide and could poll particularly strongly in the state’s southeast region, which, regardless of party, is more socially liberal than any other area in Pennsylvania. Still, the policy did not attract the support of any sitting Republican congressman in the state, and even two Democratic incumbents, Mark Critz and Chris Carney, opposed it.

Tags: Bryan Lentz for congress, Jim Gerlach for congress, Manan Trivedi for congress, Pat Meehan for Congress

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 at 12:16 am and is filed under Miscellaneous, PA Reports, PoliticsPA Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.