poseidon
Seaman Apprentice
Joined: 20 Aug 2004
Posts: 97
Location: Massachusetts
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 Posted: Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:30 pm Post subject: Where is the money Senator ? |
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Article in Sundays Lowell Sun [ Mass ]
http://www.lowellsun.com/Stories/0,1413,105~4746~2381902,00.html
| Quote: | By JASON LEFFERTS, Sun Staff
LOWELL One night 32 years ago, two men who would become two of the Democratic Party's well-known figures stood toe-to-toe over the Vietnam war, an exchange that led to a contentious City Council debate.
On April 18, 1972, John Kerry, a war hero turned anti-war activist and a declared congressional candidate, wanted city councilors to approve a resolution condemning the war. Kerry had said many times in the preceding months since his return from Vietnam that the war was wrong.
At a 1971 anti-war protest in the nation's capital, Kerry said he tossed away his combat medals to protest the government's military action.
Kerry's anti-war crusade played a major part in his campaign for the Fifth Congressional District seat then held by Lowell's F. Bradford Morse.
In his appearance before Lowell's elected leaders, Kerry was questioned sharply by Councilor Phil Shea, a hard-nosed local politician who believed the Democratic candidate's anti-war resolution was politically motivated.
Shea, it appears, was ahead of his time. He brought up several key issues that are resonating today on the national scene as Kerry, a U.S. senator for 22 years, makes a bid for the U.S. presidency.
Thirty-two years ago, the young councilor questioned the young candidate on Kerry's testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his decision to return his combat medals and his anti-war activism.
Shea also confronted Kerry on a little-publicized fact: Kerry had filed for and taken a Vietnam bonus of $300 from the state of Massachusetts. All returning Vietnam veterans were eligible to receive the money. The Sun, through a Freedom of Information Act request, has received a copy of Kerry's bonus check. It was issued on Dec. 17, 1969, and authorized by then-state Treasurer Robert Q. Crane.
As Kerry was running for Congress, Shea tried to show the inconsistency in Kerry's stance against the war. If you returned your medals in protest, Shea asked Kerry, why didn't you return your bonus money?
Kerry told Shea and the seven other councilors present that he returned his medals to make a point and would do the same with the money. The Massachusetts Treasurer's Office, which issues the bonus checks, has no record today that Kerry followed through on his promise.
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