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Republican Senate candidate for Pennsylvania Kathy Barnette apparently lied about her military service record as far back as five years ago. [H/T Daily Caller]
Barnette, a FOX News contributor, veteran and businesswoman, shows her polling in second or third place in a crowded field, including Dr. Mehmet Oz, and former Bridgewater CEO David McCormick. She tried to align herself with former President Trump and portrays herself as a conservative outsider, but the former President is endorsing Oz.
Barnette was the GOP nominee for Pennsylvania's Fourth District and lost by 19 points to Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean.
She had emphasized her military service and in interviews in 2017, but her facts are questionable.
According to her campaign website, “Kathy served her country proudly for 10 years in the Armed Forces Reserves where she was accepted into Officer Candidacy School.” But there is no such branch as the "Armed Forces Reserves."
There's the Army National Guard of the United States, the Army Reserve, the Navy Reserve, the Marine Corps Reserve, the Air National Guard of the United States, the Coast Guard Reserve, and the Air Force Reserve--just not an Armed Forces Reserves, according to the military.com website.
Overall, Barnette had claimed that she served for 10 years in the U.S. military at least 13 times, a Daily Caller review found. However, records released by the candidate to investigative reporter Gabe Kaminsky show that she served in the Army National Guard from 1993-1998, and in the Army Reserve from 1998-2000. Do the math: that = 7 yrs.
Barnette forwarded the documents minutes ago, claiming she’s light on staff, reacting to news of her campaign not sending WEX/WFB the docs. pic.twitter.com/vsEdTZTr3ENotably, the record Barnette released is an NGB-22, which is issued to a National Guard service-member upon discharge. But it's the DD214 that shows one's military information such as rank, service medals and deployments, and she hasn't provided it to the media after it had been requested.
— Gabe Kaminsky (@gekaminsky) May 11, 2022
“Kathy J. Barnette served in the Alabama Army National Guard from September 1993 to March 1998. Her primary military occupational specialty was 63S, Heavy-Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic, and she attained the rank of specialist. Her last unit with the ARNG was the 778th Maintenance Company, Alabama Army National Guard,” spokesperson Madison Bonzo said in a statement. “Kathy J. Barnette also served in the Army Reserve as a Human Resource Specialist (71L/42A) from 1998 to 2000.”
There is nothing indicating that she was accepted into Officer Candidate School (OCS).
Barnette claimed that she entered the military in 1990 and exited in 2000, leaving with honorable discharges.
“As soon as I got home from Elk County, and I mean, no one walks around with their records in their back pocket. So I did give them my information, pull it out, take pictures, and I started sending it to all the media outlets.”
Her comments were in reference to a report from the Washington Examiner’s Salena Zito, who wrote on Wednesday that the Barnette campaign refused to answer basic questions about the candidate’s biography. Barnette’s campaign manager reportedly hung up on a Washington Free Beacon reporter who also requested the DD214.
The Barnette campaign did not respond to multiple requests from the Daily Caller for comment and her DD214.
Releasing DD214s and other supporting information is common practice for candidates with military service records. McCormick, a Gulf War veteran, provided his DD214 when contacted for comment by the Daily Caller. The fact that Barnette has not, does not bode well for her.
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Barnette is not the only candidate in the GOP primary to face questions about prior military experience. Oz served in the Turkish army for several years in the 1980s to maintain his dual citizenship, and his connections to the Erdogan regime have drawn scrutiny from other candidates and the Armenian-American expatriate community. His stance about abortion is basically closer to pro-choice than to pro-life one, but he has been wishy-washy about this issue since deciding to run for political office.
Personally, McCormick seems like the most conservative and best candidate of the three, but that's just my opinion.
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