Gov. Ted Strickland is clearly no fan of America's military veterans.
You may recall the governor's statement in March that he wished he were still in Congress so he could have voted for President Obama's massive health care overhaul. Apart from its massive tax increases and unprecedented expansion of government intervention, the new law also imposed a tax hike on military veterans purchasing prosthetic limbs. In July, ATR wrote of the new "wounded warriors tax":
The health care overhaul passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama earlier this year contains a new tax on medical devices such as prosthetic limbs, pacemakers, and wheelchairs. This tax, which its proponents claim will raise $20 billion over the next ten years, contains no exemption for the nation’s 22 million veterans. In fact, Senate Democrats specifically refused to exempt veterans from the tax.
On March 24 2010, Senate Democrats rejected an amendment offered by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to the healthcare bill. This amendment (SA 3644) would have prevented the medical device tax from hitting veterans covered by the Veterans Healthcare Program or TRICARE for Life. This amendment was rejected by a vote of 44-54. All but five Democrat senators voted in favor of retaining the tax for veterans.
If only Ted Strickland could have been in Congress at the time to stand with his Democrat colleagues and support a punitive tax on America's veterans.
As if raising taxes on veterans wasn’t enough, today the Strickland campaign added insult to injury to our servicemen and women at a campaign event, where a Strickland staffer assaulted an Iraqi war veteran who happened to work for the Republican Governors Association, throwing hot coffee on him, and pointing an obscene gesture in his direction.
Clearly Strickland’s disdain for our troops has spread to the rest of his staff. You know what they say, personnel is policy.