Inside Politics

Tarnished silver?

Uneven military service records have proved toxic to John Kerry’s campaign for president, prompting him to post his full military record on his Web site (www.johnkerry.com) for critics to peruse.

But one sharp-eyed Washington Times reader — a former B-52 pilot and U.S. Air Force colonel — isn’t buying Mr. Kerry’s pre-emptive strike.

“I looked at that Web site and the first thing I looked at was Kerry’s Silver Star citation. Guess what? It is for an action that took place in 1969, but it is signed by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. Strangely, Lehman was secretary of the Navy from 1981 to 1987,” he noted.

“How could Kerry have received a citation from an official that would not be in office for 12 years? This was NOT just a case of providing a new copy of a citation for the office to replace one that was lost (destroyed/thrown over a wall). This effort by Lehman & Kerry actually changed Kerry’s official Navy record, sometime in the 80s,” he continued.

“What other portions of his record did Kerry have Lehman sanitize or spiffy up? Evidently, Kerry did not think his original Silver Star made him look ‘heroic’ enough, so he provided ‘suggested’ words for a new certificate. This certainly calls Kerry’s entire Navy record into question.”

Who’s hue

Teresa Heinz Kerry’s claim she is “African-American” is “a stretch,” says Virginia Walden-Ford, president of the District-based People of Color United.

Mrs. Kerry, who was born of European parents in Mozambique when it was a Portuguese colony, has mentioned her ethnic connection for more than a decade, once telling the press, “My roots are African. The birds I remember, the fruits I ate, the trees I climbed, they’re African.”

Enough already, say some.

“We must ask who is Maria Teresa Thierstein Simoes-Ferreria Heinz Kerry? Considering her claims to an African heritage, questions are asked about what she’s done for black communities, here and abroad. Teresa Heinz Kerry is among the wealthiest women in the world with an estimated fortune equal to nearly a quarter of Mozambique’s gross domestic product,” Ms. Walden-Ford said yesterday.

She is curious about “her privileged upbringing in a wealthy family in Mozambique. … There are questions concerning her servants, what were they paid and whether or not they could come in the front door.”

The group has bought newspaper ads about such matters, and urges black voters to take their vote to heart.

“We must not become politically impotent, where our vote can be taken for granted by one party or written off by another,” Ms. Walden-Ford said. “We’re merely asking our community to seriously examine what the Kerry campaign says to the black community. In short, what has he done lately to earn our votes? We must hold him accountable.”

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