Republicans Use Military as a Stage Prop (Yet Again)... And This Time May Break the Law

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

Republicans Use Military as a Stage Prop (Yet Again)... And This Time May Break the Law


You did not have to be paying much attention during last night's Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address to notice a young Army Staff Sergeant in full dress uniform seated prominently right behind Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and enthusiastically applauding and cheering at the Governor's attacks on Democrats.

Slight problem, you see. That is probably against the law.

Look it up for yourself right here in the Department of Defense (DoD) Directive entitled "Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces." The purpose of this DoD Directive is to mirror the Hatch Act, which prohibits government employees from engaging in partisan political activity in an official capacity. Since a DoD Directive is considered to be in the same category as an order or regulation, and military personnel violating its provisions can be considered in violation of Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, our Republican friends may have just caused this brave young soldier to break the law. Thank you for that, Governor McDonnell.
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/134410p.pdf

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-diamond/republicans-use-military_b_440393.html

[Arctic Dave]

1. This a two way street, there was a NCO at the SOTU doing the same thing.

[DJ13]

3. An NCO at the SOTU would have been there at the CiC's request

Big difference.

[Tx4obama]

6. The SOTU address is not a 'partisan' political activity. n/t

[Demeter]

2. Regulations? We Don' Need No Stinkin' Regulations!

We are now a nation of men, not laws.

[Zoeisright]

4. Who would prosecute this?

And how do we inform them about it?

[PacerLJ35]

15. Their commanders would have to be the ones to take action

This isn't likely a case to be tried in court. It's likely to be referred to the unit commander for any punishment, such as a letter of reprimand or NJP.

[Jefferson23]

5. Republicans know no shame, anyone else notice how the young lady

who is African American and the young Asian man were situated directly behind the Governor..one on each side? Nodding their heads
often in approval of his rhetoric.

[Auggie]

9. Those were bobbleheads

:)

[lsewpershad]

10. That was very obvious to me also

[bluestateguy]

7. I love the smell of a court martial in the morning

nt

[PacerLJ35]

14. I doubt it would go to a courts martial

More like administrative punishment, such as a letter of reprimand or, at worst, Non-Judicial Punishment.

[PacerLJ35]

8. That one is definitely a little bit in a grey area...

I'd lean towards the direction of NOT having any military in uniform when a political party is giving a speech, but others could argue that the rebuttal to the SOTU is part of the political process within the government, and therefore isn't necessarily participation in a political party. It will definitely be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of this.

I can remember flying into Savannah's airport about 7-8 years ago. We were in our flight suits, on the ground to pick up passengers and refuel, when I noticed a bunch of political types that looked like they came from a campaign rally. Apparently the Republican candidate for Congress had flown in for his re-election. I walked into the bathroom, and almost ran into Trent Lott, who was blowing his nose as he left the restroom. He had arrived to lend his support to the local candidate. After I walked out of the bathroom, they tried to get my copilot and I to pose with Lott and the guy running, in uniform with campaign buttons. I kept telling them no, that we can't do that, but they were pretty persistent. I grabbed the copilot and we walked out to the airplane to wait to avoid being hit up for photos. That pissed me off quite a bit...they knew it was wrong (because, if nothing else, I was quoting the DoD policy), but they didn't care if we'd get in trouble or not. They just wanted their picture for the campaign.

You know, I understand this is a political site, but now that I think about it I really can't stand many politicians, regardless of party...most tend to only think of themselves.

[hedgehog]

11. There is a big difference between the SOTU and the rebuttal -

one is required by the Constitution and the other is a recent innovation that treats the opposing party as on parity with the President.

[spin]

12. I did notice that. Having once been in the military ...

I wondered the same thing.

There's a time and a place to wear your uniform.

[Zywiec]

13. Um, does anyone know if this young Army Seargent was in the VA National Guard?

Is he serving under title 32 or title 10 orders?

The National Guard reports to the governor, not the president.

Only if this Soldier was on active-duty, under title 10, would he be subject to the UCMJ and President Obama his boss.

:patriot:

[glinda]

16. wish they would catch this now otherwise it will just continue

[niceypoo]

17. Regulations only apply to Democrats

[brooklynite]

18. Going to disagree with the original premise...

In the same way that SOTU is "non-partisan" despite clearly advocating for the President's (and by extension, the President's party's) policy, the Minority party response is also seen as non-partisan. Consequently, I don't think you can argue that the "product placement" of a Military representative, however crass, rises to the level of a violation of DOD regs.

[FLDCVADem]

19. Agree n/t