Max Cleland takes on new position!

[Gimpy]

Sen. Max Cleland Named Honorary Veterans Chair Of 2004 DNC
July, 2004


Boston, MA ? Sounding an unprecedented rallying cry to the nation?s veterans, the 2004 Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) today announced that former Sen. Max Cleland (D-GA) will serve as Honorary Veterans Chair of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, the first position of its kind in Convention history.

As Honorary Veterans Chair, Cleland?a Vietnam War veteran who lost three limbs in service to his country?will spearhead efforts to organize veterans and showcase their issues at the 2004 Convention.

?Next month, we will return here to Boston ? the city where our first American soldiers fought ? and make history as veterans once again,? Cleland said. ?Conventions are a time to bring people together and share ideas, and the Democratic Party is one of inclusion. It is only appropriate that at this Convention, during these times, we will reach out to include more veterans in more prominent ways than ever before.?

Upon accepting the position today at Medal of Honor Park ? the site of the first Vietnam veterans memorial in the country ? Cleland announced that for the first time ever, veterans caucus meetings will be called to order during the week of the Convention. The meetings will feature prominent veterans from across the country and provide a forum to discuss issues important to veterans, as well as provide training on grassroots organizing for participants to put into action in their own communities.

Two veterans? caucuses, which Cleland said will be referred to as ?Basic Training,? have been scheduled for the afternoons of Monday, July 26, and Wednesday, July 28. They will be held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel, the headquarters hotel for the Convention. By engaging the veterans? community more than ever before, the caucuses promise to further the DNCC?s goal of making the 2004 Convention the most inclusive ever.

Not only will veterans have the opportunity to make their voices heard in caucus sessions, but every state delegation to the 2004 Convention will have the opportunity to hear from veterans while in Boston. State delegations meet daily during the Convention for breakfast sessions, and prominent veterans will rotate through these sessions to address the delegates.

?In these times, veterans? issues are the entire country?s issues,? Convention CEO Rod O?Connor said. ?This Convention will help launch our Party?s battle for a better America?and that?s a fight our nation?s veterans know something about.?

Cleland, who was awarded the Bronze Star and a Silver Star for gallantry in action during the Vietnam War, became the youngest head of the U.S. Veterans Administration under President Jimmy Carter. In that capacity, he instituted the revolutionary Vets Center program that, for the first time, offered psychological counseling to combat veterans to heal the emotional wounds of war. He served as U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1996-2002.

?Senator Cleland, with his extraordinary sense of sacrifice and duty to his country, embodies all the values that our nation?s veterans hold dear,? said Ralph Cooper, a longtime veterans leader in Roxbury, Mass., who headed a group of local veterans joining Cleland at today?s announcement. ?Under his leadership, this Convention will address issues that will impact the entire veteran population for years to come. We are proud to see new ground broken for all veterans in our hometown of Boston and prouder still to have Max Cleland leading the way.?


###########

Max knows who will honor their pledges to veterans!

And, it sure ain't GEE-W!