In his editorial last week, while declaring that he didn't support Shays' candidacy, Managing Editor Nick Keppler wrote,
I love Chris Shays; I really do. He's a truly beautiful man who has dedicated most of his life to public service...
I wrote a letter to the editor that was published this week explaining why I don't love Chris Shays, pointing out numerous positions with which I disagreed, and taking issue with Shays' voting to go to war in Iraq, while having declared himself a CO. I also questioned how Shays had managed to avoid the draft in 1969, three years before declaring himself a conscientious objector. Keppler attached an Editor's Note, to my letter that read:
Chris Shays was on a Peace Corps assignment during the draft lottery in 1969. The author of this letter is a member of Greenwich Democratic Town Committee.
Keppler's comment appeared to provide an acceptable explanation for Shays' not being drafted at the height of the Vietnam War. The problem is that the Selective Service Administration never considered Peace Corps service as grounds for either a draft deferral or a draft exemption. I know, because I served in the Peace Corps in the 1970's, and I also wrote to the Peace Corps and the Selective Service Administration and received back a letter confirming that fact. So Shays pulled the wool over Keppler's eyes, which I pointed out to him in an email. I assumed that Keppler would be pretty ticked off at Shays for misleading him. To my surprise, however, he wasn't a bit miffed to find out that he'd apparently been deceived. This is his response to me:
As a professional journalist, I am obligated to get both sides and check with the Shays camp when someone says something as inflammatory as he was a draft-dodger. That is what I did and if I could go back and do it again I would not do anything differently. This matter is closed. Thank you. - Nick
So Nick Keppler joins the ranks of local journalists who never bothered to question Shays' misleading excuses regarding how he avoided the draft and saved his hide at the height of the Vietnam War, and who never bother to question the apparent hypocrisy of pacifist Shays' serving as a leading cheerleader for war. If he changes his mind and wants to find out what the real story was regarding Shays and the draft, here are some of the sources for Mr. Keppler or other journalists who can be bothered to do real journalism might consider beginning with.
First, journalists should ask Chris Shays why it is that he has no problem sending young Americans to fight and die in Iraq or any other war when he declared not only that he is a pacifist who believes war to be immoral, but also stated to Peace Corps Online in 2002 that he would have refused induction into the military had he not been granted conscientious objector status in 1972:
Chris Shays early political career was marked by acts of defiance. He registered for conscientious objector status during the Vietnam War and acknowledges he would not have served if drafted.
If Shays decides to run for his old congressional seat, it would seem that a lot of military families, including those whose loved ones have been killed or wounded, would appreciate a full explanation of that discrepancy. And a lot of parents of military-aged children would also like to know how he could declare himself a pacifist when his own life was on the line, while blithely sending other young people off to war when he is safe and sound.
Then there is the matter of how he got out of the draft in 1969 when his lottery number came up.
According to the Selective Service History and Records website, the first lottery was held on 12/1/69. Shays' birthdate, October 18th, 1945. He drew #005 in the lottery:
The highest lottery number called for this group was 195; all men assigned that lottery number or any lower number, and who were classified 1-A or 1-A-O (available for military service), were called to report for possible induction.
So not only was Shays' explanation that he was exempted from induction into the military due to his Peace Corps service not supported by the facts, he also received a draft number that virtually assured him that he would be drafted. So Mr. Shays needs to tell us exactly how he did manage to stay out of the war. Did he pull strings? Was someone looking out for him? His explanation to Keppler just doesn't hold water.
Furthermore, Shays should make public his draft records, including his statement of beliefs regarding pacifism, which was accepted by the close vote of three-to-two by his draft board. He should also make available the records explaining why when he was exempted from combat service as a conscientious objector, he was not required to perform alternative non-combat service in the military.
If Shays feels he wants to return to congress and vote on matters of war and peace, he has an obligation to the voters of this district to finally give them a full and factual explanation. And Nick Keppler, as not only a professional journalist, but also a managing editor of a Fairfield County publication, should press Shays for a complete and honest explanation.
I don't care if Mr. Keppler thinks Shays "a beautiful man" or not; the voters of this district are owed the truth. He needs to go back to Shays and demand a full accounting. Then Keppler needs to publish that full accounting in his publication, and correct the misleading explanation that he printed this week.
The matter is most definitely not "closed". Not even close. |
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