One of our distinguished Moron-of-the-Day alums, Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) has graduated from Moron to Congressional thug. Mr. Hare, you may recall, is the Moron-of-the-Day who announced that he did not care what the Constitution said, in response to a question about Obamacare.
On Monday, May 31, 2010, when the reprehensible Mr. Hare was lying about his veteran status to his constituents, he was confronted by an actual veteran who pointed out that by law, being a mere reservist did not make Mr. Hare a veteren.
What ensued?
Here are the words of the citizen Mr. Hare tried to intimidate in a letter to the Congressional Committed on Standards of Official Conduct:
Thug. Moron. I suspect Mr. Hare is destined for even greater ignominy.
June 2, 2010
Mr. Blake Chisam
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
HT 2 Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chisam,
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of an incident which occurred between myself and Reprehensive Phil Hare, on Monday, May 31, 2010.
Congressman Phil Hare, of the 17th Congressional District of Illinois, is misrepresenting his military service during the Vietnam War to attract the votes of veterans. This is the same congressman who said "he doesn't worry about the constitution."
On Monday, May 31,2001, Mr. Hare and I were engaged in a conversation concerning the statements he is making around the district about being a veteran. After I pointed out that according to the law he is not a veteran, he became very upset and demanded to know my name. I refused to tell him my name, saying that this was about his claim of being a veteran and not about me. Mr. Hare then told one of his aids who was with him, to follow me to my car and get my license plate number so he could find out who I was. I have since been told that Mr. Hare's daughter works for the DMV.
I then asked Mr. Hare if he was going to stop telling people that he was a veteran. Mr. Hare again demanded to know my name, and again told his aide to get my name or to follow me to get my license plate number so he could find out who I was, so he could tell all the former reservist what I said. I asked Mr. Hare if he as a public official was going to use his official office to run name checks on private citizens, in order to intimidate them into not asking questions he did not want to answer.
As Mr. Hare was turning to walk away from me he paused, and turning back to my direction, he glared at me intently, and while leaning forward pointed his finger at me, and in a threating and intimidating manner said," I'll find out who you are!" given the nature of Illinois politics and Mr. Hare's reputation as a mean politician, I felt intimidated by the power of Mr. Hare's office and what he might do.
Mr. Hare never answered the question I posed to him. I reminded Mr. Hare that even his former commanding officer in the reserves, (Bill Albracht) told him that he was not a veteran according to law. Mr. Hare said, "Bill Albracht, now there's a real brain."
As I was walking away I spotted Mr. Albracht and walked over to talk to him. It should be noted that Mr. Albracht is a former Green Beret Captain who served as the commander of an A-Team in Vietnam, and is one of the most decorated soldiers in Illinois. Mr. Albracht is also a retired Secret Service Agent with twenty-five years of service.
When Mr. Hare saw us talking to each other he rushed over and demanded that Mr. Albracht explain to me, that he, (Mr. Hare) was a veteran. Mr. Albracht told Mr. Hare that he was not a veteran according to the law, but that yes, he had served in the reserves. However, according to government regulations he was not qualified to be counted as a veteran.
At hearing the bad news from Mr. Albracht, Mr. Hare became enraged and went into a tirade about how the law was bad and it should be changed. Mr. Hare wanted to know if Mr. Albracht would support such a change in the law. Mr. Albracht said "no." Mr. Hare, now even more enraged said, "I don't care what the law is, I still consider myself a veteran." After this, with the wave of his hand Mr. Hare dismissed us both as if we were mere servants and not worth his time. The arrogance and abuse of power by Mr. Hare in threatening and attempting to intimidate me, is not only frightening and shameless, but also dangerous. The same U.S. Congressman who didn't worry about the constitution, now says he "doesn't care what the law says" and he still considers himself to be a veteran, knowing full well he is nol.
Additionally, Mr. Hare is lying to the public to garner votes from the veteran community, as well as threatening and trying to intimidate a constituent into submission, because he does not want to be challenged on his claim of being a military veteran.
Congressman Phil Hare's actions are in many ways worse than that of Congressman Mark Kirk or Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal. I'm not aware of either of them threatening or intimidating anyone into silence in order to hide their military service from the public.
As veterans we take our service seriously. Especially those of us who served in Vietnam, and returned home to scorn and ridicule by much of the public. This public includes politicians who never served, sought deferments to avoid service or joined the reserves to avoid service in Vietnam, as Phil Hare did. These same politicians who now claim to be one of us, and hope that due to the passing of time no one will ever enquire as to their service, thereby taking them at their word that they did indeed serve.
Phil Hare is such a politician. After graduating from high school in 1967, he put his name on the list for the local reserve until instead of going into the regular Army. Once there was a slot open he joined the reserves in 1969, and was home free the draft and Vietnam. He never thought it would come back to hunt him, but it has and now he is bitter that his secret has been exposed.
The thought of a sitting congressman threatening and intimidating one of his constituents is something out of Nazi Germany. Shut up and don't make waves or I will deal with you.
Mr. Chisam, as a caution I have contacted the local field office of the FBI in Moline, Illinois, to determine if there were any criminal violations committed by Mr. Hare.
I spoke with Agent Jeff Jackson who told me that unless Mr. Hare actually attempted to get my address or follow through with his threat or further attempts of intimidations directed at me, that he did not believe there was a criminal violation.
Agent Jackson did tell me however, that it appears as though there may be a violation of congressional ethics for threatening me, and trying to intimidating a private citizen.
I would hope that the congress would take such actions seriously, and work to restore my faith and confidence in our elected officials.
Sincerely,
Ken Moffett
1925 23"' St. A
Moline, IL 61265
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