McPherson Releases First TV Ad

A commercial released Thursday by Democratic congressional candidate Jackie McPherson seeks to question a vote earlier this year by Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, involving the Veterans Affairs Administration.

The 60-second ad (which can be viewed at the bottom of this post) by Denver-based consulting group BlueWest Media, will air on television stations in Jonesboro and Little Rock through Monday, and is called “Where I Stand.”

According to the FCC website that tracks political campaign spending on commercials, the McPherson campaign spent nearly $1,200 on the ad in the Jonesboro market and about $4,300 on the ad in the Little Rock market – both considered small, short-run buys.

The U.S. House voted 420-5, with Crawford voting no with four other representatives, July 30 on the bill to revamp the VA, while the Senate voted 91-3 the next day on the issue.

At the time, McPherson said funding was needed to solve the issue while Crawford said money alone would not solve ongoing problems with the agency.

McPherson, who is challenging Crawford and Libertarian candidate Brian Scott Willhite of Cabot in the fall, is joined by two veterans in the commercial. One of the veterans featured in the commercial, retired Army Sgt. Kenton Hallen, said the issue is important to veterans.

“With the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan, PTSD is just the start,” Hallen said in the commercial. “We are going to take care of these guys for the rest of their lives. … Congressman Crawford doesn’t deserve to be re-elected.”

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, Crawford called the commercial outlandish.

“Accusing me of being against veterans is like saying farmers are against rain. Rain is good as long as we don’t get 12 inches overnight,” Crawford said. “It is plain silly to say that I oppose veterans when I served in the Afghanistan Theater, chair the Congressional EOD armed services caucus and have a father and brothers who are veterans. I simply felt there was a better way to fix the VA than throwing billions of dollars at a failing agency without requiring more accountability. I feel we can improve VA care faster and better if we require more accountability, not less. My fellow veterans deserve better.”

In a statement released by his campaign Thursday, McPherson said the issue was personal to him.

“My father was a WWII Navy veteran. As a kid I watched him get on a bus every few months and go down to Little Rock to see his doctor. It took the whole day to get there and back. I know my father was a hero, his ship, the USS Johnston was gunned down in the battle of Leyte Gulf. He spent four days out in the water waiting for rescue. He was very lucky to make it home, most of those men never did,” McPherson said. “When we ask young men and women to serve, we’re asking them to face experiences that most of us could never even dream of. We ask it of them and we promise that when they come back, they’ll have the best medical care. We’ve failed at that promise, and I don’t see any excuse for it.”