LETTER: Van Gerpen outranks Kloucek as candidate

Talk about it

To the Editor:

Election season is here and back like a Russian thistle is perennial candidate Frank Kloucek now running for District 19 Senate.

Kloucek is normally a gadfly — always campaigning, always up for a cheap photo op. In election season, the REAL Frank Kloucek emerges. His motto, “Leadership for South Dakota,” is as amusing as it is pathetic — he has no signature legislation to his credit, despite years in Pierre. Even the Democrats passed him over for a leadership post after the 2010 election.

Kloucek boasts that he supports veterans. So why does he dishonor them?

He dishonors veterans by asserting recently that those killed in the Global War on Terrorism died merely “for oil.”

He dishonored veterans when he told me in 2010 that abortion was “not as bad as our military killing babies in lraq.”

Kloucek boasts, “I’m not a quitter!” thus demeaning the service of his opponent — a highly decorated veteran. Kloucek’s mocking-through-innuendo of Bill Van Gerpen’s unexpected recall to active duty that precluded him from taking office in 2005 is political chicanery at its lowest. If Kloucek defines “quitter” as one who answers the call to defend our country in wartime, it speaks volumes about his capricious mentality. This is the REAL Frank Kloucek: misinformed, reckless, irresponsible — and no friend of veterans.

Bill Van Gerpen— the quiet patriot who has dedicated a lifetime of service to his God, to his state and to a grateful nation — is the better choice. Few have so unselfishly given so much for their fellow citizens. Unlike his opponent — who rarely strays far from a church supper serving line — Van Gerpen has distinguished himself in local, state, national and international service, and thus he has a far broader perspective on important issues. He is the clear choice in this race.

Tags: elections 2012, frank kloucek, bill van gerpen, opinion, updates, letters, politics, legislature