Vetting veterans

On Sept. 12, U.S. Sen. Dean Heller announced he had introduced S. 3530, a measure to compensate Philippine veterans who fought in World War II.

That same day the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Heller was being “endorsed by a Filipino-American veterans group … a new political action committee” called the Filipino-American Families of America in Politics (FAFAP) and that the endorsement was a “blow” to Heller’s election opponent, U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley.

Then commentator Jon Ralston reported that FAFAP was not a vet group and that it was essentially invented for the purposes of the campaign: “It’s a new organization, yet to be formed, and not a veterans group, that is endorsing him, supposedly started by a couple of guys who are well known in the Asian community. But there is no PAC yet, and who knows how much money there might be?”

As previously reported here (“Veterans: Berkley over Heller,” RN&R, May 10), Heller has not done well with veterans groups.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, founded by vets from those wars, has consistently found Democrat Berkley stronger on veteran issues than Republican Heller. In “report cards” issued in 2008 and 2010 representing their votes as members of the U.S. House, IAVA found Berkley more supportive of veterans than Heller.

Other vet groups do not have congressional rankings.

Asian-American voters are a significant bloc in Nevada.