Unification Proposal

[eric]

8-2-02
National Director for all Vet Organizations

Unification Proposal and/or Joint Venture for National Elections

It is my proposal that all veterans' organizations, which are allowed by
their charters, to unify under one banner known as "The Veterans' Voting
Bloc Coalition", which will not be organized as a 501c3 organization. The
purpose of the organization will be to consolidate our political power in
the form of a massive voting bloc in order to oust national politicians who
have not and/or will not vote for significant veterans' issues.

This may be achieved through the following steps:

1. Each organization willing to join the coalition shall first make their
intentions known to me.

2. Each organization shall appoint a committee to investigate the voting
records of incumbent members of Congress relating to the four main issues;
a) No-cost, lifetime Health care restoration for retired military and their
spouses, b) Concurrent Receipt of VA disability checks and DOD longevity
retirement checks without offset, c) Elimination of the two inequitable
aspects of the Uniformed Former Spouses Protection Act (calculation of
retirement entitlement based on date of retirement as opposed to date of
divorce & the practice of allowing former spouses to continue receiving a
percentage of former member's retirement after they re-marry), and d)the
revision of the Feres Doctrine to eliminate the non-combat/training exercise
medical malpractice bar.

3. We have a list of 15 Congressional candidates who have pledged to
sponsor/co-sponsor and vote for all of these issues as well as another VA
issue, which has not been previously addressed. That would, of course, be
our beginning base of candidates to support. Each participating vet group
would make recommendations based on their independent analysis, for the
remaining seats up for contention this election.

4. We would all meet at that point to present our independent
recommendations to select all candidates to recommend to our collective
members. We would all have to agree to go with a majority decision in the
event that the various organizations chose different candidates for whatever
reason. It would be necessary for all of us to make a pledge to go along
with the majority choice to avoid presenting a fragmented front. There would
have to be an understanding that we all would present our members with a
pledge to vote for the candidates chosen, with an explanation of why we need
to put aside partisan differences for the accomplishment of the mission.

5. I will gladly act to coordinate this function and set up a
mini-convention for the purpose of the candidate selection. This process can
be repeated every election from now on. I believe everyone now sees the need
for this type of consolidation of political voting power. Everyone needs to
realize that this is not a political action coalition, but a voting bloc. We
would determine the issues we want to use as criteria for selecting
candidates in the future, as we did with our five issues for the Veterans'
Voting Bloc, and present them to the incumbents far enough in advance of
each election to allow them the opportunity to EARN our votes. If they do
not take that opportunity, our selection process for the that particular
election would be simplified.

Since this is a new venture, and has not been previously attempted in the
format, I realize that there are probably other issues that need to be
resolved as we develop the coalition. I will eagerly await feedback and
suggestions from all.

Sincerely,
Philip E. Jones, (USA, RET)
Veterans' Voting Bloc, National Director
Attorney at Law
126 East Main Plaza
San Antonio, Texas 78205
Phone: (210) 224-1923; Fax: (210) 227-4229
Web site: http://unitedvets.tripod.com
email: pjones@thetexasfirm.com


To learn more about the Veterans' Voting Bloc @ Yahoo Groups, please visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/veterans_voting_bloc
Thanks,
eric