Claire McCaskill Blocks Air Force Officer Susan Helms' Nomination Over Military Sexual Assault

[iandhr]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — A U.S. senator remains steadfast in blocking the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, tapped to serve as vice commander of the U.S. Space Command, over serious concerns with Helms' decision to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault case.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who first put a hold on the nomination in April, said she met with Helms and Air Force officials yet still had reservations.

"At a time when the military is facing a crisis of sexual assault, making a decision that sends a message which dissuades reporting of sexual assaults, supplants the finding of a jury, contradicts the advice of counsel and further victimizes a survivor of sexual assault is unacceptable," said McCaskill, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

McCaskill's hold effectively prevents the Senate from approving Helms' nomination.

In February 2012, Helms rejected the recommendation of legal counsel and overturned the conviction of an Air Force captain who had been found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a female lieutenant.



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/07/claire-mccaskill-susan-helms_n_3402854.html

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Good job Senator. Keep up the good work.

[brooklynite]

1. Don'tcha just hate those Blue Dogs?

[Bluenorthwest]

11. Broken clocks are right twice a day. Claire does not do that well.

As of now, she's still defined by her begrudging, like pulling a tooth, muttered, very late sort of support of marriage equality. Govtrack the only Democrat to her right is Manchin after that it is a field of admitted Republicans. Other than Manchin, the entire Democratic Party is to the left of Claire. That is what it is. Also, her rate of missed votes is rather high. My Senator Merkley missed .09% of the votes, while Claire was too busy to vote on 2.7% of the bills placed before her, this is above the average rate by 1 full percentage point.

[TheDebbieDee]

37. Sen McCaskill misses those votes because she's busy making appearances on Mornin' Douche!

She seems to appear so often that she may as well be a regular on the set........

[AndyA]

2. Good for McCaskill! These violent sexual assault crimes in the military must stop

When a jury convicts someone, it's not up to an Air Force Lt. Gen. to overturn that decision. Seems to me that's making her complicit in minimizing the crime. I'm surprised the military gets anything done, given how many rapes apparently go unreported.

[hlthe2b]

3. Good on McCaskill....

I don't care if it is a male or female perpetuating the abusive system re: military sexual assaults.

Time to clear house.

[freshwest]

8. +1

[monmouth3]

4. McCaskill is a treasure..n/t

[Gore1FL]

7. In this specific instance I agree

Most of the time she is barely less embarrassing for Missouri than Roy Blunt.

[Sherman A1]

16. Are we from Missouri?

?????

[Gore1FL]

23. St. Louis n/t

[REP]

28. Feel my pain - she repped my neighborhood in the MO House

Not Regarded Highly where I'm from.

[Gore1FL]

30. While I'd rather have her than Talent or Akin...

...I'd rather have Carnahan and Talent instead of McCaskill and Blunt if I had the choice.

Missouri used to not be so embarrassing. I think the SW by Springfield is infected with whatever Oklahoma has.

[lastlib]

33. pretty much the entire southern half of the state is infected.....

Guns, God, and White Power--in no particular order...........

[Gore1FL]

35. We should give the lower third of the State to Arkansas.

This would have the added benefit of raising the average IQ of both states!

[TheDebbieDee]

38. Good one........

[REP]

46. We still got Nixon!

I'd much rathere have Mel Carnahan (and I still my "Im still with Mel" pin); he and Jay Nixon were a great team for Missouri. I think Nixon is one of the better governors we've had (but I lived through the Bond era).

[Sherman A1]

40. I have my problems with McCaskill's voting record

through the years, but considering the challenge of getting elected in a state wide election, I don't see her as an embarrassment at all. Certainly I would much rather have a far more liberal Senator, but I would rather have her than any Republican that comes to mind.

[Gore1FL]

43. I agree with where you are going.

1-2 votes out of 5 are better than none.

It's still embarrassing that she is an example of the best the Missouri Democrats can produce.

[jeff47]

25. Yeah, her voting to cut food stamps was wonderful!

The fact that she's right in this situation should not promote her to "treasure" status.

[monmouth3]

27. Consider my demotion of her..n/t

[NaturalHigh]

5. "Overturned the conviction of an Air Force captain..."

It's extremely rare for the convening authority to overturn a court-martial conviction. Notice that this one was overturned for an officer. I don't know if they even read them for enlisted personnel.

[toby jo]

6. This is exactly why we elect people like you, McCaskill.

Damn, for a town full of Claires.

[Gore1FL]

31. I voted for her because the other choice was Todd Akin.

She got this one right, though.

[rhett o rick]

9. How does the WH feel about this? nm

[DeSwiss]

10. K&R

[JDPriestly]

12. The issue of sexual assault is very serious.

A lot of investigative work is required to determine the facts, and certainly, Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms needs to be completely absolved of any suspicion before she is handed so much authority.

[still_one]

24. I agree, and this is a correct move, however, I wish she was equally forward thinking on other

Issues also

[lastlib]

34. I think she actually is a little more forward-thinking......

...than many of us here give her credit for. She has a lousy constituency to think of though. If she doesn't at least look like she's representing them, she's likely to get the boot. These are the people who think Todd Akin was the bee's knees.......

[JimDandy]

26. There is no suspicion.

Last edited Sat Jun 8, 2013, 10:22 PM - Edit history (1)

It's not debatable...Lt. Gen. Susan Helms actually OVERTURNED a sexual assault conviction. This is the big complaint with what's happening with sexual assault cases in the military justice system. You're right that a lot of investigative work went into determining the facts in that case, and to have a commanding officer negate all that work and deliberation is an injustice to the victim.

Why should someone who looked the other way and continued to let a criminal serve in the military be allowed to serve in a position with even more authority?

[caseymoz]

13. She voted for Food Stamp cuts

This is good, but it doesn't make up for that.

[TNNurse]

14. Missouri

That state should be so proud of electing her. I cannot imagine what that little "legitimate rape" weasel would have done in her place. I hope is sitting somewhere crying!!!!

[REP]

29. Not. Just better than (no) Talent or Legitimate-Rape Akin

She's from my home city, repped my neighborhood and county and meh.

[Gore1FL]

32. I'm proud that the state mustered enough to keep Akin out.

The best thing about McCaskill is that she isn't Akin.

[sufrommich]

15. Good. This person does not deserve a promotion,

she deserves a demotion.

[Sherman A1]

17. K&R

[mpcamb]

18. My recollection about the case was that it was a male office who dismissed the case.

Here's what I found, backtracking,


Case dismissed against Aviano IG convicted of sexual assault
By Nancy Montgomery
Stars and Stripes
Share on facebook
Published: February 27, 2013


The sexual-assault conviction of the 31st Fighter Wing’s former inspector general was set aside by the Third Air Force commander Tuesday, releasing the fighter pilot from jail and reinstating him into the Air Force.

Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin dismissed the case against Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, who after a weeklong trial in November at Aviano Air Base, Italy, was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to a year in jail, forfeiture of all pay and dismissal from the service.

Franklin, the authority who convened Wilkerson’s court-martial and a former commander of the 31st Fighter Wing who is also an F-16 pilot, declined to provide specifics on why he overruled the verdict and sentence reached by the jury of four colonels and one lieutenant colonel.

[stevenleser]

20. Different case but an understandable mistake, its strikingly similar.

See link above in the OP which details the other case. Also see:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/generals-promotion-blocked-over-her-dismissal-of-sex-assault-verdict/2013/05/06/ef853f8c-b64c-11e2-bd07-b6e0e6152528_story.html

In the case of what Lt. Gen Helms did, the person allegedly committing the assault was a Captain, not a Lt. Colonel.

[stevenleser]

19. As some one who once served in that command, I agree.

Overturning a jury conviction for sexual assault?

No way. That has to stop.

[alp227]

21. Couldn't McCaskill have pulled a Rand Paul filibuster? And hmm, what would Akin do?

The obvious answer to my 2nd question: NOTHING.

And most like McCaskill will have accomplished more with placing a hold than making a filibuster speech.

[stevenleser]

22. No, she is successfully holding up the promotion. Any member of the

senate armed services committee can do that and the promotion cannot go through until that individual senator relents. Most folks are now saying this General's career is over unless McCaskill gives in, which would mean retirement at Lt. General rank. Not exactly the worst thing in the world.

[RILib]

39. less than honorable discharge

one could only hope, since that's what they've done to some victims.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

36. I was so afraid this was gonna be something completely different

glad it turns out to be VERY good.....Don't give in, Senator McCaskill!

[benh57]

41. Disagree with this

No single senator - our side or theirs -- should be able to 'hold up' a nomination. They should be brought to the floor for a vote.

She's welcome to persuade her colleagues to vote no.

[Triana]

42. GOOD. I agree with McCaskill's actions on this. n/t

[davidpdx]

44. On this particular issue Senator McCaskill is doing the right thing

If Lt. General Helms wants the promotion she should explain why she overturned the conviction. I don't know a lot about the case, but the issue of sexual assault in the military is not being dealt with and has been a long standing issue. As I have said before, one of my classmates who is also working on a DBA is in the Navy and her dissertation will be about sexual assault in the military. It is good that the issue is being raised and people are pushing to get something done.

Now that being said, I don't always agree with Senator McCaskill's votes.

[davidpdx]

56. I just asked my friend in the Navy about this and what her thoughts were

I don't know how much she's willing to talk about it, but I am curious to see what she says.

[another_liberal]

45. It had to be done.

We can't continue to give these high-ranking enablers promotions in rank and responsibility. Otherwise any purported effort to end sexual abuse in the military is just a sham.

[Sunlei]

47. military sexual assault crimes should go to experienced civie authorities.

[burnodo]

50. which the military doesn't want

they want to do everything "in house" which, of course, leads to injustice after injustice

[Ash_F]

48. Does anybody have a link to Helms' side of the story?

I really want to hear from her what her excuse was for overturning that verdict. I mean reasoning.

What was her reasoning?

[burnodo]

51. I did a quick google

link

<snip> However, the more recently reported case, of Lt. Gen. Susan J. Helms overturning the sexual assault conviction of Capt. Matthew S. Herrera, finely illustrates the military's hostility towards victims.

In a released memo justifying her decision, Lt. Gen. Helms wrote, "It is undoubtedly true that [the accuser’s] feelings of victimization are real and justifiable,” Helms wrote. “However, Capt. Herrera’s conviction should not rest on [the accuser’s] view of her victimization, but on the law and convincing evidence.” Here, Lt. Gen. Helms acknowledges that the victim was indeed "victimized." However, this is brushed aside, and one point of view, the rapist's, is exalted above the other. <snip>

[Ash_F]

53. Interesting viewpoint for someone who is not a lawyer and did not attend the trial. /nt

[burnodo]

54. not to mention overturning the conviction

from people who were there and knew what the facts were

[Ash_F]

55. They need to investigate her connection to the defendant

And pursue criminal charges if applicable. If it doesn't sound sane, it is probably corruption.

Not getting a promotion should be the least of her worries.

[Doctor_J]

49. Sounds like this is a good block, BUT...

wouldn't it be better to let the process go forward and have Helms rejected in the prescribed manor, instead of circumventing the democratic process?

[Ash_F]

52. Wow, in America, women are forced to salute their rapists.

"Soon afterward, the noncommissioned officer who had accused Herrera of sexually assaulting her said that she had crossed paths with him at Vandenberg and, because she was junior in rank, she was required to salute him.

“He had a very smug look on his face,” Tech. Sgt. Jennifer J. Robinson said in an interview. “I was devastated and shocked.”"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/generals-promotion-blocked-over-her-dismissal-of-sex-assault-verdict/2013/05/06/ef853f8c-b64c-11e2-bd07-b6e0e6152528_story_1.html