Boston Herald: Let's mean business on Vets aid by John Kerry

[ProSense]

10/19/2007

Boston Herald: Let's mean business on Vets aid

by John Kerry

When Army National Guardsman Dave Krasner returned to Boston from Iraq in 2005, he did everything right. He applied to the federal government for help keeping his consulting business afloat despite having lost clients and income while he was risking life and limb overseas.

Despite his service, Krasner was denied a small business loan. His credit took a hit due to a smaller military paycheck. After nearly two years of fighting to keep his business open, he closed it and moved to Louisiana where he’s making a living but no longer living the American dream of owning his own business.

That’s not how it’s supposed to be. After our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters put their lives on hold to serve their country and risk their lives for our national security, the least we can do is work to ensure their well being and economic security.

The Bush administration has not done nearly enough to provide a safety net for veterans and reservists who own a small business or are self-employed. What’s sorely lacking is a comprehensive, coordinated effort by federal agencies to help veterans and reservists get the business counseling, training and financial assistance they need to ensure their businesses are a success when they return.

Earlier this month, the Senate passed legislation I wrote with Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) that will not only help reservists keep their businesses afloat while they’re deployed, but also expand business opportunities for them in the future. Specifically, our bill creates national transition teams that would provide managerial, financial, planning and technical resources through a network of existing centers such as the UMass-Boston Small Business Development Center, the Northeast Veterans Business Resource Center and the Center for Women and Enterprise.

We establish a governmental task force with representatives from the Small Business Administration, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Labor and the General Services Administration to focus on coordinating all federal resources available for veterans and reservists.

And we also expand access to capital. We improve the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loans - a program I created back in 1999, but which the administration has failed to promote to reservists. Our bill gives reservists more time to apply, increases the size of the loans they can receive, allows soldiers to have loans approved before they deploy and demands that agencies develop an aggressive outreach plan.

Merely offering these small business benefits does no good if vets aren’t aware of them - and based on a January hearing, they aren’t.

Mark Aldrich, an Iraq veteran who owns a small business in Byfield, grew so frustrated by the lack of information he and his fellow reservists received before he deployed that he started the Veterans Business Group to serve as a clearinghouse of helpful information.

Aldrich’s initiative and Krasner’s departure from Massachusetts should be a wake-up call for the White House to work with Congress to finally address the glaring needs of our veterans and reservists.

Supporting our troops means more than just providing them with the equipment they need while in harm’s way. It also means giving them the tools they need to succeed in business once they come home.

Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1039028

[meegbear]

1. A Boston Herald Op-Ed that doesn't criticize or blame a Democrat???

:wow:

[riqster]

2. Well, a Dem wrote it.

[meegbear]

3. I know ...

and John Kerry to boot. Someone on the editorial board's gonna be booted out for this infraction.

[riqster]

4. Enjoy it while it lasts. nt

[MBS]

5. stranger than fiction, I know

but, if anything, the Herald has been better on some aspects of local political coverage lately than the Boston Globe, whose political coverage gets (if possible) ever more shallow, snarky, and lazy with every week that goes by.
My guess is that the Herald readers/editors respect Kerry's distinguished military service, and, on some gut level, they get it what that service means: someone whose patriotism isn't just for TV sound bites, but someone who really walks the walk for his country. And that they also understand that,because of the life understanding he gleaned from his own military service, Kerry's bond with veterans and first-responders, like firefighters,and his care for their welfare, is real, deep, and unstinting.

[karynnj]

7. This is less than a month after the very good article on Kerry's staffer

who is going to Iraq - where Kerry's and the staffer's comments on patriotism were included and supported with absolutely no snark. Here's the link but only the first paragraph is available - http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1035042

Here is a quote from it (from a JK group thread ) from when the entire thing was available:
"At a time when we tend to reach for the nearest stereotype and hide behind red or blue banners, Setti Warren goes off to war calling his boss, an impassioned critic of the current strategy in Iraq, “a true patriot.”

“He’s let me know how proud he is of what I’m doing,” said Warren, who joined the Naval Reserve back in 2003, about the same time he signed on as a trip director with the Kerry for President campaign. He met his wife, Tassy, along the way and when they married a year ago, John Kerry was one of the groomsmen.

“In the course of those journeys across New Hampshire and Iowa and the other campaign states,” Warren said, “I saw the fundamental connection he had to this country through his military service as well as his public service, and it mirrored how I felt. Being able to work for him was a kind of perfect match."


I think you are right - that though conservative - they do see Kerry's commitment to vets to be very genuine.

[beachmom]

6. Kerry has been there for the military small biz owners. K & R. n/t

[Democrafty]

8. K&R. As a small biz owner,

I could not ask for a more knowledgeable, committed, principled, or creative chair for the small biz committee.

[politicasista]

9. K&R

:kick:

[ooglymoogly]

10. The Boston Herald is a right wing rag of the lowest caliber..

surprised a dem even got a word in edgewise.

[Mass]

11. Yes, but they have to remember where they are. Not that many officials on the GOP side.

They actually were extremely critical of Romney at the end (surprisingly more than the Globe) and endorsed Niki Tsongas.

For the rest, they are a rag sheet, no question about that, and some of their editorialist are very RW (Howie Carr comes to mind).