Dems question Ken Buck's view on running the V.A.

Posted: Sep 23, 2010 5:19 PM by Matt Stafford
Updated: Sep 23, 2010 5:20 PM

El Paso County Democrats are questioning G.O.P. Senate candidate Ken Buck's plans for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Democrats met in Memorial Park in Colorado Springs Thursday, concerned Buck has plans to privatize the V.A and take it out of government control. The plan was mentioned on a recent political ad, negative to Buck.

Even though many vets would still have government provided health insurance through Tri-Care, those at Thursday's rally are fearful of changes with the V.A. Not everyone feels they'll be completely covered.

"I'm not terribly happy with some of the things that they do there, but quite frankly there are benefits that I receive from the V.A. that I cannot get from Tri-Care," says Mitch White, a 30-year Air Force veteran.

On the other side, Buck supporters say the Democrats are taking things out of context, running incomplete statements. They say Buck has no plans to privatize the V.A.

"You can take a 2 second snippet of any conversation and twist it how you see fit," says Auddie Cox, El Paso County chair of the Ken Buck campaign. "Once again we would like to ask the Bennet campaign to please play the entire clip, which will show that Ken Buck has never advocated the privatization of any veterans' hospital."

Voters will decide between the two candidates November 2nd.