Vets for Freedom, a pro-Iraq war veterans group, is calling on Sen. Claire McCaskill to return $16,000 in contributions from the anti-war group MoveOn.org.
The group is making the call after MoveOn.org took out an ad in the New York Times that implies that General David Patraeus will "betray us" in his testimony to Congress.
"I feel that the ad that MoveOn.org took out on September 10 in the New York Times is a disgrace. This is the ad that accused General Petraeus of 'cooking the books' in his report to Congress," Missouri Chairman Brandan Mueller stated. "General Petraeus is a commanding general with troops in the field actively engaged in combat. To mount a personal attack on him is disgraceful. The message sent by MoveOn.org must be repudiated and I hope that Senator McCaskill will denounce the ad and the message it sends. I hope that Senator McCaskill will take the lead on this issue and return the money that she has taken from the organization that has libeled an American patriot who has served his country selflessly for many years."
McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh says McCaskill did not receive any money directly from MoveOn.org -- because she couldn't have. She said the group made independent expenditures during the 2006 campaign against Jim Talent, but noted that it would be illegal for the McCaskill campaign to coordinate with that effort.
"Claire believes the ad is stupid and disagrees with it," said Marsh.
***UPDATE 9:16 P.M . . .McCaskill spokeswoman Marsh wanted to clarify that the expenditures made to McCaskill were part of the effort to get her elected, but not directly given to the campaign. "There's no money to give back to them, because we didn't recieve any," Marsh said.
According to the Federal Election Commission, there are five contributions from MoveOn.org listed on McCaskill's disclosure list. But those contributions were made by the political action committee on behalf of her candidacy -- not directly to her campaign. Moveon.org can make independent expenditures during the campaign, and obviously they weren't going to help Jim Talent. But we can't have any collaboration with independent expenditures at all," Marsh said.
"Independent Expenditures are efforts completely separate from a candidate's campaign that work to either convince voters to support or oppose the candidate. Simply said, we wouldn't beable to return money from an IE even if we wanted to because we never received it to begin with," Marsh added.
Dan Bell, of Vets for Freedom, said he understands the distinction, but said he still thinks McCaskill should give back the money to charity of a veterans group. When I told Bell that McCaskill disagreed with the MoveOn.org ad, he said, "that's what we've been asking for."
"We understand her position, but we believe because of this despicable attack on our military leaders, she should distance herself from the group altogether," Bell said. "It's the only right way to denounce what MoveOn.org has done."
Marsh said McCaskill already has a proven track record on fighting for veterans in the Senate. She cited her quick response to the problems at Walter Reed, a statewide veterans tour and fighting for legislation that includes more money for veterans.
"It's not vets specific," responded Bell. "It's about supporting our military leaders. We're trying to turn her around to get her to support them."
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