Chick Ciciotte may be correct in saying the last week in Augusta was rough, but his reasoning is a bit twisted. Perhaps he was too busy being swooned by the governor or his agents to understand how his inattention to real veteran issues is destroying support for any of his other causes. He can only rest assured that he was not alone in his partisan maneuvering, and it did not escape the watchful eyes of the group of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who are actively watching these “advocates.”

I sat on the Commission to Strengthen and Align the Services Provided to Maine Veterans. We were bi-partisan politicians and non-politician veterans of various ages in composition, and concluded our work in January 2016. We studied the multiple problems facing the various generations of the veteran community, gaps in services and potential solutions for the state and federal governments.

You decided not to support numerous pieces of legislation that directly effect all generations of veterans in this state. I can only determine the reason as party affiliation at this point. Each piece of legislation derived from the commission report, and supported the veterans I represent. No one has been able to provide me with a valid reason why we shouldn’t support them. I simply know that the governor doesn’t, and so I watched his department heads working the past weeks to undo our months of effort, and you jumping to his aide.

The bills are very important. They rebuild a department you and your cronies let falter for over the past decades, the Bureau of Veterans Services. There is a reason why my generation comes home without a clue about benefits, or able to get the same access to care as you guys. I am beginning to think some of you like it that way, you know the honey holes, and we don’t. This may make the quiet fishing spot a little less serene.

We could have used your help on LD 1612. This was providing the Bureau of Veteran Services with the software for client tracking and outreach capabilities the director stated she needed in her testimony before the commission, only to back track it in the committee for the bill. There is nearly zero outreach in the current system. Inefficiency plagues their services now despite the best efforts of some excellent staff. It would provide for additional service officers to bring us to more in line with the national standard. Massachusetts mandates one service officer for every 12,000 veterans, which would mean Maine would need to hire five more to meet our low estimates of veterans. The tale of BVS is simply this: excellent people that few know about, overworked, understaffed, ill equipped, under budgeted, and highly politicized. All generations of Maine veterans could have used your support on this bill, but your Governor wouldn’t have liked it.

LD 1611 addresses the gaps in statewide coordination on veteran homelessness we identified. These are significant, causing fragmented efforts and mixed outcomes for veterans across Maine. While all of the testimony we heard led us to believe we needed a lead agency, no one wanted to do it once the Blaine House started maneuvering. I am all for being frugal, but I am not sacrificing my beliefs or being a puppet. This bill is necessary because the agencies left leading do not understand the specific issues relating to veteran claims or benefits, especially when they become more complex. Additionally, without the authority or responsibility directed under a state agency, they are unable to control the assets in a coordinated way. They are in competition for resources (grants) between each other. To say that they are completely working together is only partly true, and the person who needs an unbiased advocate in this situation is the homeless veteran, not the non-profit who brings in multi million dollar grants.

Wasting all of your energy on LD 1280 is an interesting move. I was unable to cover the other pertinent legislation that has been missed. While gambling is not something I have any problem with, it is not guaranteed revenue for veterans. The fact is that it will have an impact on the other two casinos in Maine, saying it won’t because you don’t like the argument is absurd. Using inflated numbers is also not helpful. In the largest years I was able to find on a quick search of combined tax revenue for the other two casinos, we only gained $35 million as a state. This bill proposes 6 percent from the slots and 16 percent from the table games going to veterans. I would assume the amount of revenue should be roughly $7 million, far short of the $14-million you keep promoting. I want you to provide us with the calculus behind your inflated estimates. I also want an explanation of why this was the legislative focus while you ignored the bills my generation of veterans asked you to help with for all veterans. Don’t feel too bad, you were not the only “advocate’ to leave us hanging for party politics again.

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Adrian Cole is a retired U.S. Army Captain. He lives in Topsham.