The corpse of Jason Simcakoski seems to be popular fodder for political grazing these days. Jason died in 2014 while in the care of the VA. Now, Leah Vukmir and Tammy Baldwin are using his death in their respective campaign adds.
The parents and widow of a Marine veteran who died at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center appear in a pair of television ads that debuted Thursday praising Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and calling attacks against her “shameful.”
The spots are an attempt by Baldwin to counter one of the main criticisms of her lodged by Republican opponent Leah Vukmir and conservative groups. Vukmir has charged that Baldwin failed to respond quickly enough to the crisis at Tomah, where veterans were being over-prescribed opioids leading up to the death of Jason Simcakoski in 2014.
Simcakoski’s parents are in one new Baldwin ad and his widow is in another. In both, they praise Baldwin for working with them to enact a law that toughened opioid prescription guidelines. They also call for attacks against Baldwin on Tomah to stop.
“When I see these attack ads against Tammy Baldwin, using Jason’s death, I think it’s shameful,” his widow Heather says in one ad. “Tammy has literally been there with us every step of the way for three years. She’s the one helping us do right by our veterans.”
It’s not bad enough that two politicians are using his death for political gain…now his widow and parents have jumped into the ring.
In an ad released Wednesday, Vukmir attacked Baldwin over her response to the Tomah crisis. It was the latest in a series of spots by her and conservative groups that have spent millions attacking Baldwin on the issue.
“You knew about the opioid crisis at the Tomah VA and you did nothing,” Vukmir said in the ad.
Baldwin’s office heard from a whistleblower about concerns at Tomah in March 2014. It received a report in August 2014 about its 2½-year investigation into Tomah that cited concerns over the prescription of opioids at the facility, which is about 100 miles northwest of Madison.
Simcakoski died the day after Baldwin’s office received the report.
The family of Jason Simcakoski became effective activists and were instrumental in passing the Jason Simcakoski Memorial Opioid Safety Act. They were also awarded $2.3 million. The practice of treating veterans at “Pill Factories” needed to be addressed.
Everyone is diminished when they are drawn into petty political fights. Vukmir and Baldwin are political parasites feeding on the dead corpse of a veteran. Shame on his family for jumping into this fight. Vukmir needs to STFU and Baldwin lacks the dignity to ask this family to stay out of this petty fight. The lawyers were all paid, the family was paid, even the doctor that was in charge of Simcakoski managed to get his back pay. Now, these two political hacks seek to profit from his death.
I hope my family has the dignity not to pimp out my corpse. Maybe one day they will all find the dignity to let my brother rest in peace.
