such as Yelladawg are very vocally attacking Kaylyn because she was unable to meet with them when they insisted she meet with them and they were unwilling to be flexible enough to work within her schedule. All this while she was dealing with a difficult illness and death in her family.
They claim that the Republican lite Boren has this race all sewn up but continue to bully Free and anyone who supports her. They run two OK message boards and delete and lock posts by anyone who supports Free.
Their support of Boren over Free is never based on any issues in this race. It's straight ad hominem attacks, fabricated and exaggerated rhetoric. They have alientated many people who were formerly regular posters on their boards with their outlandish and loutish behaviour.
Below is one example of a post that was submitted to both boards regarding a meeting Kayln did have with local vets who were willing to work within her schedule. It was deleted once and the second time, supporting posts were erased and the thread locked so it would fall to the bottom and disappear:
Information from Kalyn Free's Meeting With Vets To the administrators of this site: I would greatly appreciate it if you would NOT DELETE this post from your site anymore. There is ALOT of really bad and incorrect information being circulated about Kalyn Free right now and in all fairness, you should allow your readers and posters an opportunity to see viewpoints from both sides and not just your side. SO I am asking you kindly to please stop deleting good information about Kalyn. Please notice I did not ask you to stop circulating the bad information about her, but I do think to be completely fair and accurate, you should stop deleting the good information your readers post here. I thank you in advance for your cooperation.
This post is to inform all who are interested that Kalyn Free did meet with a group of veterans at her McAlester campaign office on Wednesday, July 7 at 7:30 PM. Present at the meeting were WWII veteran Dave Blackman of McAlester and Viet Nam era veteran/DAV member Mark Coyle of Yale, OK. Kalyn Free attended the meeting herself, and I took notes on what she said. The following is a list of the questions asked and her response:
1. Health care and mental care for Veterans are being cut as we speak. What is your plan to improve veterans mental health benefits and their health care benefits? My dad was a WWII vet and he taught me to respect veterans. My brother works at a veteran's clinic in Tulsa (he had prior experience working in the Indian Health Care System) and he has told me the veterans do not have adequate health care and by comparison (to the Indian Health Care System) the veterans are much worse off. The people who defend our country MUST be taken care of regardless of whether they served for 2 years, 4 years or 20 years. Veteran's issues are issues I will always fight for in Washington DC.
2. Disabled veterans cannot receive their full retirement benefits because Democrats & Republicans will not act to give what was earned. How would you develop bi-partisan relationships to work together and assure veterans will receive their full retirement benefits? I believe in ending to the special taxes veterans pay (she referred us to her website & I have posted the information here:
Put an immediate end to the Disabled Veterans Tax. Many veterans who retire from the military with a service-related disability are not permitted to collect both retirement and disability pay concurrently. Currently, military retirees are required to pay for their own disabilities: For every dollar they receive as VA disability compensation, it gets deducted from their military retirement pay as disabled veteran's tax. I believe in ending this tax immediately and will fight in Congress to ensure that disabled vets receive full concurrent receipt.
End the Widows Tax. It is never easy for anyone to endure a loss of a spouse. And to penalize widows financially for their loss is tragic and inhumane. Military retirees pay premiums for years and anticipate that upon their death, their spouse will receive 55 percent of their benefit. However when their spouse reaches 62, the benefits unfairly drop to 35 percent- forcing widows to give up more than a third of their benefits. I believe in honoring those who have defended our freedom but also in honoring their families who endured months without their spouses, fathers and mothers, and those who lost their loved ones during war. Ending the widow's tax is just one step towards showing our gratitude to the families who have given so much to this country.
There are few things the Republicans & I agree on, but I plan to develop strong working relationships with the other Democrats in Washington DC. I feel that veterans benefits should be bi-partisan anyway and our veterans should receive direct care whether they're in the guard or full duty.
3. Veteran Hospitals are being closed. How can you help stop this from happening? I'm not aware of any clinics being closed right now. There may be some that are under threat of being closed and if that turns out to be true, I'll definitely fight it. I am aware of a 6-9 month wait to receive treatment. There is more information on my website and the address is -
http://www.freeforcongress.com/?c=Veterans Here is the information from the website:
Full funding for the VA health care system. Not only do I believe in fully funding the VA health care system but I also believe that funding must be mandatory just as other major health programs like Medicare are funded. Since 1996, the number of enrolled veterans has increased by nearly 150 percent, but funding has lagged far behind. There are thousands of veterans who have been waiting well over six months for basic health care appointments. Other veterans must wait over a year for specialized health care appointments. Veterans¡¦ health care should be fully funded automatically, like Medicare and Social Security, so that veterans¡¦ health does not have to compete with other priorities for funding during the appropriations process.
4. Promises that were made are being taken away. How can you reassure veterans that you will fight for their rights and represent them to the best of your ability? I would respond the same way I responded to the first question I answered, but you can also go to the website and see more details of my plan to supoort veterans. Here is some of the information from the website:
As of May 2004, there are currently 360,795 veterans living in Oklahoma. Among them, 46,462 are disabled. I believe that our troops should be taken care of when we send them out into battle and also when they return home to their families. I believe that Congress can do more for Veterans. They have given our country their lives and their honor and I believe Congress can do more to repay them. As we are currently seeing a new generation of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Oklahoma still has 3,294 of their men and women on active duty as Reservists or National Guards around the world.
I believe that we can do more for our grandparents, parents, sisters and brothers, daughters and sons. I believe that those who defended our freedom deserve better access to healthcare, they deserve to collect the pay they have earned- both retirement and disability pay, and they deserve an end to frivolous tax penalties- the widow's tax
5. Do you have a plan to stop the cutting of funds for veterans programs?I don't support ANY cuts to veterans programs. In fact, I support increases to their benefits, eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy and instead of spending billions of dollars on Iraq - use some of that money to improve veterans programs.
6. Why won't you meet with veterans that are democratic party activists?I assume you are referring to (name deleted since this is the DU but his screen name here is Yelladawg) who called me one day and demanded that I meet him at Hammet House Restaurant in Claremore so he could be seen with me in public by some other people. I had a scheduling conflict at that time and I offered to meet him later on that day and I also invited him to attend a "meet and greet" reception I was attending that day in Claremore. I told him the reception would be the best place to be seen with me in public, but he insisted on meeting at the Restaurant from 11:30 till 1:30 for lunch. I explained again that I couldn't make it because I wanted to attend church service and I already had a reception scheduled for the afternoon. Once again I invited him to the reception, but he didn't want to do that. So it wasn't that I didn't meet with veterans, it was a simple matter of a previously scheduled event that was in conflict with the time he wanted to meet and I couldn't be in both places at the same time, so I attended the pre-scheduled event.
7. Why do you keep on attacking former Republicans? I'm running in the Democratic primary because I am a democrat and this is about party loyalty. My opponent has managed republican campaigns, supported republican candidates, has received money from a number of republican sources, and has received the Chamber of Commerce endorsement (FYI: The Chamber of Commerce was one of the number one supporters of Right-To-Work in Oklahoma). I'm not attacking anybody, I'm just talking about his record.
8. Will you endorse the Democratic nominee even if you don't win the primary? ABSOLUTELY!!!
9. Will you help the Democratic nominee if it isn't you? I intend to be the nominee and I am in this race to win the nomination and the election in November.
That was the end of the meeting. If anyone wants more information on Kalyn Free's stand on veteran's issues or any other issues, you can find out at
http://www.freeforcongress.com 
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