Women’s Veterans Group Appears to Give Filner Political Cover

You read about it on SDRostra.  The National Womens Veterans Association of America (NWVAA), a group founded to advocate for women who have been raped, assaulted or harassed while serving their country, is hosting a gala next month.  The group originally planned on giving Mayor Bob Filner it’s first ever “Lifetime Achievement Award” and invited the Mayor to address them at their gala.

Monday, their Facebook page started lighting up and their phones started to ring.  Local veterans and women left comments and called founder Tara Jones.  The group responded by rescinding the lifetime achievement award but retained Filner as the keynote speaker.  Ms. Jones released a statement which seemed hypocritical to many:

“Due to the recent events of allegations of sexual harassment, admission of inappropriate behavior by the Mayor and his personal cry for help, National Women Veterans Association of America has removed the mayor from being honored at the benefit gala to support the Military Sexual Assault Community.  He is now the keynote speaker on these injustices.”

I spoke with Jones yesterday. She was adamant that this sort of behavior was intolerable.  She stated that the Mayor asked for help and was going to face a tough crowd if he did what is alleged. Jones seemed irritated that she and her organization were being dragged into what she referred to as “politics.”

Tara Jones is either incredibly naive or very coy–she IS a political person, whether she realizes it or not. 

In March of this year, Jones, San Diego City Council candidate Don Azul, an organization which advocates for LGBT rights in the military, and entrepreneur and LGBT activist A. Latham Staples had a not-so-private disagreement about the NWVAA.  (Azul and Staples endorsed, financially supported, and volunteered for then mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher).  Azul once claimed to be affiliated with NWVAA on his Facebook page.

In the Fall of 2012 , Mrs Jones appeared at a Filner for Mayor campaign event on the USS Midway, and offered her personal and organization’s endorsement for Filner’s mayoral bid against Carl DeMaio.  Certainly, free people can and should offer support for their candidates prior to an election but when a a 501c-3 organization lends its name to a political candidate, it or the directors of it can no longer claim that they aren’t “political.”

Jones endured a deplorable act of violence while serving our country.  She described that the military “defamed and defaced” her when she reported it.  Her story is heart wrenching.  I applaud her for addressing this violence through her advocacy.  But to retain Filner as a keynote speaker, citing that he is entitled to “due process,” looks far more like a political act than a balanced one.  Mrs. Jones personally experienced the acts of retribution many women experience when they report sexual assault; she should understand how difficult it is for women to come forward against the most powerful man in San Diego.

Jones might heed the advice of recently retired Army Colonel James Hutton (who worked in the Office of the Chief of Army Public Affairs) when he said, via the NMWVAA Facebook page, “talk about tone deaf.”  That’s how you and your organization look, Ms. Jones — tone deaf….or political.