Graham Hunt; Washington State Republican Senator controversy

A couple of folks have sent links to this story from Washington State in regards to one State Senator there, Graham Hunt. He is an Air Force National Guard veteran who lived in Arizona during his period of service. he was deployed to the Middle East. According to the Seattle Times, his bio on his website has changed a couple of times.

Hunt has described himself as having been “wounded in combat” but grows vague when asked for details. He said he was knocked down by explosions but cannot remember where. He also says he cannot remember the names of units he deployed with to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Late last month, after being interviewed by The Seattle Times, Hunt altered several details about his military service on his online biographies.

He deleted references to the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal and the Afghanistan Campaign Medal — awards a military personnel office says do not appear on his service record.

Also removed was a reference to Hunt being a “combat veteran” of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Here’s the way that it reads now;

Graham Hunt served as a Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force for nearly 10 years, serving tours of duty in several countries, including multiple tours to the Middle East. He also graduated from the U.S. Air Force Law Enforcement Academy and the U.S. Army Chemical, Biological, Nuclear, High-Yield Explosive School. He has been awarded several military honors, including the Air Force Achievement Medal.

Here’s the picture that began the controversy. It was posted on his Facebook page;

Several months later it was removed when Hunt admitted that neither of the men in the photo were him. Here’s the original AP Stock photo from which the campaign photo was created;

Actually, that’s pretty common among phonies – using a photo to prove their creds, a photo that isn’t of the phony. Tim Poe did it, too and TMZ swallowed his story until we proved him in error. Hunt also did another thing common for phonies – he blamed a staffer for posting that story.

Military records show Hunt served in the Air National Guard from 1998 to 2005, assigned to Sky Harbor Air National Guard Base in Phoenix, according to Lt. Col. Belinda Petersen, a spokeswoman with the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Colorado. After 2005, Hunt was a nonparticipating reservist until 2010, when he separated from the military.

Hunt achieved the rank of staff sergeant and earned several awards. They include a small-arms marksmanship ribbon, the Air Force Expeditionary Medal and the Air Force Achievement Medal, according to the personnel center.

The achievement medal was earned while Hunt was at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia in late 2002 and early 2003 as part of the 363rd Air Expeditionary Wing, according to a copy of the medal citation supplied by Hunt.

Hunt’s response;

Rep. Graham Hunt, R-Orting, released the following statement in response to the January 23 article in The Seattle Times entitled, ‘Combat veteran’? Records fail to back state lawmaker’s claims.

“I have been completely transparent with Mr. Brunner about my military service. I am a combat veteran, and served my country overseas in multiple deployments to the Middle East, including to Iraq and Afghanistan. Records with the Air Reserve Personnel Center were not automated in 2001 and 2003 as they are now, so I do not have a complete copy of all my records. I do, however, have records of the following medals I received:

Air Force Achievement Medal
Air Force Expeditionary Service Medal
Combat Readiness Medal
National Defense Service Medal
Air Reserve Force Meritorious Service Medal, 2 Devices
Armed Forces Reserve Medal

“I am proud to have served this country honorably in the armed forces, and will continue to do so in my service as a state representative.”

It’s obvious to me that the Seattle Times doesn’t like Mr Graham for some reason that they don’t mention, otherwise why would a journalist spend so much time investigating his military career. There’s usually politics behind such circumstances. By the same token, Mr Graham should have been more forthright in his campaign bios. I have no sympathy for him. He goes on to blame clerks for not keeping his records up to date. Well, that’s not the clerks’ fault. I can show you, in about 5 minutes, every award that I’ve ever claimed on this blog. Things I can’t document, I don’t claim. It’s really that simple.

Category: Dumbass Bullshit