DNC:Veteran and Ohio State Representative Protests Rejection of Billboard

For Immediate Release
December 5, 2005
Contact: Damien LaVera, 202-863-8148

Iraq War Veteran and Ohio State Representative Protests Rejection of Billboard
Holding Jean Schmidt Accountable for Her Attack on Veterans

Washington, DC - Yesterday, Ohio State Representative and Air Force Reserve
Major John Boccieri called on Lamar Advertising to stand up for America's
veterans by reversing its decision to reject two billboards it had agreed to
sell to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

A C-130 pilot who recently returned from his fourth tour of duty in Operation
Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, Boccieri called on Lamar
Advertising to honor its contract for two billboards the DNC purchased as part
of its effort to hold Ohio Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt accountable
for attacking Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha, a decorated 37-year Marine
Corps veteran, during a Congressional debate on the Iraq war.

During a news conference with the Ohio Democratic Party yesterday in front of
her district office in Portsmouth, Ohio, Boccieri called on Schmidt to stop
attacking veterans and criticized Lamar Advertising for standing with
politicians like Schmidt instead of veterans. The following are excerpts of
Boccieri's remarks:

"While I was flying around Iraq and Afghanistan last year politicians spent an
awful lot of time defining who we are: Democrats, Republicans, Red States and
Blue States-but at the end of the day we're all Americans*

"Like thousands of soldiers, I left my family, my friends and my job only
because our country asked me to go. So Congresswoman Schmidt, when you attack
one veteran you attack us all. When you call one veteran a coward you call us
all cowards. When you make personal attacks we solve nothing*

"Their style of politics attempts to demean the character of people with
different opinions and brand them as unpatriotic. I find it ironic that at a
time when American soldiers are fighting for democracy in Iraq, we are
experiencing such a confining view of democracy right here in our own country.
Debate is healthy and is at the core of a robust democracy. The debate about
Iraq is appropriate and necessary. Verbal attacks waged against a decorated
veteran who chose to put his life on the line for us all is cheap and
insulting*

"I call upon Lamar Advertising to allow thousands of concerned citizens to
voice their opposition to Congresswoman Schmidt's personal attacks against
Congressman Murtha. If Lamar Advertising believes our soldiers are fighting for
free speech for the Iraqi People, it is only fitting that they should support
that right for our own citizens regardless of political persuasion."

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