Message to Veterans

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 In the heat of the campaign season, it’s easy to boil elections down to “our side versus their side.”

Rightfully, we spend a lot of our energy talking about our positions on the issues facing Hoosiers – after all you’re electing us to work on your behalf for the common good, and you should be familiar with how we think and how we’ll act when we get to Indianapolis.

But there’s another side to being an elected official. Our representatives don’t just represent us when they head to the State House, they also provide vital constituent services that often help individual members of their districts navigating the bureaucracy of government. 

It’s one of the things I’m most looking forward to if you elect me as your next state representative. 

But, it seems like it might not be Mark Genda’s favorite part. 

Over the past few days, I have had seven veterans reach out to me. They’ve been trying to contact Rep. Genda because they need their state representative to provide them support in their efforts before the Military Review Board to upgrade their discharges from service.

Rep. Genda hasn’t responded to a single one. It’s not that he’s refused to help; he hasn’t even acknowledged their outreach to him! 

One of the veterans I spoke with said that he just wants someone to try for him. Even if he can’t get his discharge upgraded, he just wants someone he pays taxes for to at least show concern.

While Rep. Genda may vote for legislation that helps veterans, it seems that’s where his support of the men and women who sacrificed for our country ends. 

At the moment, I’m not in a position of authority that could help these American heroes. But, I gave them all my number and told them if I am elected, contact me on Day One and I will start looking into how I can help them in their efforts. 

Our veterans deserve better. Our district deserves better. Indiana deserves better.