Virginia Congressman Jim Moran, D-8th, doesn’t think serving in the military is public service. At the October 6th meeting of the Arlington County Democratic Committee, Moran was videotaped telling fellow party members:

“What [Republicans] do is find candidates, usually stealth candidates, that haven’t been in office, haven’t served or performed in any kind of public service. My opponent is typical, frankly.”

However, Moran’s opponent happens to be Col. Patrick Murray (US Army-Ret.), who served 24 years in uniform, was deployed to four different combat zones, including Baghdad, as part of the 2007 troop surge under Gen. David Petraeus, and was even shot at by foreign combatants. If that isn’t public service, I don’t know what is.

Paper shuffling in Washington, apparently. And this was not Moran’s only military-related misstep.

On October 11th, the Military Officers Association of America sent a letter to the Moran campaign requesting that the congressman stop distributing a flyer clearly implying that MOAA had endorsed Moran for reelection.

“As a not-for-profit organization governed by the Internal Revenue Code, the Military Officers Association of America is barred by law from participating or intervening, either directly or indirectly, in any political campaign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any candidate for elective public office,” wrote Maj. Gen. Joseph Lynch (USAF-Ret.), MOAA’s general counsel.

“MOAA did recognize Rep. Moran in 1999 with our Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award. But the campaign flyer implies a more recent and more explicit MOAA rating/endorsement in connection with this campaign that did not occur.”

So Moran disses his opponent’s military record when he’s with his Democratic pals, then uses – without authorization – the reputation of a military group to help him get reelected. Classy. MOAA should spend a bit more time vetting future awardees.

“Serving honorably in the military, as Col. Murray did for 24 years, is the best kind of public service anyone can do for our great nation,” says Tommy Valentine, webmaster of RetireJimMoran.com. “Moran needs to apologize.”

Beltway ConfidentialDavid Petraeusjim moranUS