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For Immediate Release December 5, 2005 Contact: Damien LaVera, 202-863-8148
Iraq War Veteran and Ohio State Representative Protests Rejection of Billboard Holding Jean Schmidt Accountable for Her Attack on Veterans
Washington, DC - Yesterday, Ohio State Representative and Air Force Reserve Major John Boccieri called on Lamar Advertising to stand up for America's veterans by reversing its decision to reject two billboards it had agreed to sell to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
A C-130 pilot who recently returned from his fourth tour of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, Boccieri called on Lamar Advertising to honor its contract for two billboards the DNC purchased as part of its effort to hold Ohio Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt accountable for attacking Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, a decorated 37-year Marine Corps veteran, during a Congressional debate on the Iraq war.
During a news conference with the Ohio Democratic Party yesterday in front of her district office in Portsmouth, Ohio, Boccieri called on Schmidt to stop attacking veterans and criticized Lamar Advertising for standing with politicians like Schmidt instead of veterans. The following are excerpts of Boccieri's remarks:
"While I was flying around Iraq and Afghanistan last year politicians spent an awful lot of time defining who we are: Democrats, Republicans, Red States and Blue States-but at the end of the day we're all Americans*
"Like thousands of soldiers, I left my family, my friends and my job only because our country asked me to go. So Congresswoman Schmidt, when you attack one veteran you attack us all. When you call one veteran a coward you call us all cowards. When you make personal attacks we solve nothing*
"Their style of politics attempts to demean the character of people with different opinions and brand them as unpatriotic. I find it ironic that at a time when American soldiers are fighting for democracy in Iraq, we are experiencing such a confining view of democracy right here in our own country. Debate is healthy and is at the core of a robust democracy. The debate about Iraq is appropriate and necessary. Verbal attacks waged against a decorated veteran who chose to put his life on the line for us all is cheap and insulting*
"I call upon Lamar Advertising to allow thousands of concerned citizens to voice their opposition to Congresswoman Schmidt's personal attacks against Congressman Murtha. If Lamar Advertising believes our soldiers are fighting for free speech for the Iraqi People, it is only fitting that they should support that right for our own citizens regardless of political persuasion."
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Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee, www.democrats. org. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
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