Chuck DeVore

CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore Having a Republican Richard Blumenthal Moment?

The uniform California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore was NOT wearing when he WASN’T shot at in Lebanon

Looks like California U.S. Senate candidate Chuck Devore is having a Richard Blumenthal type moment: the candidate’s words on military service differ from history.

Read it all over at the Los Angeles Times.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore made sure that the June 8 ballot described him as “Assemblyman/Military Reservist” because, the Irvine lawmaker said, he didn’t want to be mistaken for just another politician.

The remark reflected his effort to portray himself as an outsider in California politics — albeit one in sync with both the Republican faithful and the “tea party” protesters who have fanned voter disdain for officials in Washington and Sacramento.

“What I have is a solid public record of conservative credentials, whether in office, in the community, or in the uniform of the United States Army,” DeVore, 48, said during a recent debate with his opponents or the GOP nomination to challenge incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer in the fall.

But, I thought California ballot designations were to be of current occupations and Chuck DeVore is retired military reservist, no?

Throughout the campaign, DeVore has emphasized his service as a military officer and a young Reagan White House appointee at the Pentagon as experiences that helped make him the most qualified candidate. But at times he appears to have overstated those accomplishments, particularly his experience under fire and his role in the development of a U.S.-Israeli anti-ballistic-missile defense program.

And, what about the BS of him being shot at in Lebanon, when he wasn’t even in the U.S. Army but a college student.

He spoke during the debate of being “shot at in Lebanon” but did not make clear that the shooting occurred in the 1980s while DeVore was a college student studying Arabic and other subjects in the Middle East. Nor did he note that while the shooting was in his vicinity, there was no indication he was a target or was in actual danger.

DeVore said in a later interview that he was a credentialed reporter for the Orange County Register when the shooting occurred. He said he had called the Israeli military requesting to see the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon — identifying himself as an American student studying in Egypt, a reporter and member of the U.S. Army Reserve — and was included in a media tour.

“The Syrians shot at us and kind of drove us off the hill, because they didn’t want press over there. It was like warning shots,” said DeVore, adding that he and the Israeli soldiers immediately took cover.

DeVore mentioned that former ABC News correspondent Bob Zelnick was among the journalists on the tour. Zelnick said the group climbed an observation tower in Israeli-occupied Lebanese territory, from which the Bekaa Valley could be seen. He recalls the Israeli troops taunting the Syrians, who fired shots in response. But Zelnick said they were out of range and that Israeli journalists present had publicly teased him for reacting to the gunshots. “Nothing I saw or experienced could reasonably be interpreted as our having been driven off the hill by Syrian fire,” he said.

Frank Dowse, a Fiorina supporter and a retired 20-year Marine veteran from San Diego who served as a top advisor to NATO, said any attempt by DeVore — subtle or not — to imply that the Lebanon incident was related to his military service “is a bad move.”

Then, there is DeVore’s claim that he was instrumental in the successful funding of the Israeli Arrow anti-ballistic missile system in a Reagan Administration job his mother and father helped him obtain.

“So in his office, I dictated to him a “Dear Colleague” letter that he personally typed up on his Selectric typewriter,” DeVore said. “Within a week, Duncan Hunter had 40-plus signatures — House and Senate, Republican and Democrats, that went to Reagan and [then-Defense Secretary Caspar] Weinberger … the idea was born.”

Hunter was then a Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. In a recent interview, he recalled DeVore as a staunch advocate of the Arrow program on behalf of the Reagan administration — but Hunter said he wrote the letter, and pursued the idea, on his own.

“I drafted the letter that was signed by members of the Armed Services Committee, recommending that Israel embark on the missile defense program,” said Hunter, whose son now represents that congressional district.

Hunter said that he and members of the Reagan administration were working on ways to develop defenses to medium-range missiles at that time, so it would be difficult to credit any one person for the successful funding of the Arrow missile.

“No one in the administration said, ‘It was my idea’ — DeVore included,” Hunter said.

Good grief what embellishments and half truths. I guess that is something you have to expect from someone who has made a career in running for public office.

Read the rest here.


4 Comments

  • Flap

    Have you listened to the audio?

    Chuck DeVore should come clean and have a press conference where some of us can ask him some pointed questions.

    By the way, I am not paid by the Fiorina campaign and have not been.

  • Amm

    Flap as a matter of fact I have listening to the audio. It’s real and IF you read the full transcript of the debate, which I WATCHED in full, you would know that YOU are mistaken. I do believe as the other poster says you are a Fiorina blogger. You give no credit to yourself when mouth her campaigns accusations. NOW, why aren’t you writing about Ms Fiorina using the trademark logos and her mailer implying she is endorsed by them. NO CAN’T DO THAT CAN YOU? Yep, apologies have been asked for by HJTA and another tax association that has endorsed Mr. Devore NOT Ms Fiorina. But you have a bias against Mr. DeVore so hey why not pass over the faults, maybe legal problems and possible bribery scandals of Carly Fiorina. OH NO it’s much better to nit pick and pile on using another politicians stories as your excuse. LOL

    What a joke. I’ve more maybe coming out soon about Ms Fiorina from an Independent group with researchers looking at her connections. Might now be pretty.