Republican Running Away from Swift Boat Ties

Just days ago, John O’Neill, the founder of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and a member of its steering committee, wrote a fundraising letter on behalf of Vermont Senate Candidate Greg Parke. Now, confronted with the tie, Parke is already running away.

Today in Roll Call, Parke denied that the Swift Boat group is involved in his campaign, even though its founder has endorsed him, raised money for him and even said that “the mission” was the same as the defeat of John Kerry. Further ties were revealed when the Parke campaign admitted that O’Neill was brought into the group by Swift Boat member Bud Day, who appeared in the group’s advertisements and was interviewed for its book, even though Day never served on Kerry’s boat, and was not even in the same branch of service as John Kerry. Day also traveled for the Group, campaigned against Kerry and has even sued Kerry.

Legal or illegal, if Parke is going to accept the support of Swift Boat Veterans, he should pass their test. We are sure that O’Neill, Day and their Swift Boat cronies would agree that as a candidate for public office that seeks to have power over our armed forces, Parke needs to authorize the disclose of his full service record, just as John Kerry did before and after the 2004 election. He can do so by filling out a simple, two-page Form 180, conveniently available on the Swift Boat Vets website.

We'll be watching closely for the call from O'Neill and his group for this disclosure.