Kudos to Spotlight Delaware for hosting a public discussion at Delaware State University Jan. 8, with organizations and elected officials to provide feedback relating to Gov.-elect Matt Meyers’ top three priorities of education, affordable housing and healthcare. It also provided an opportunity to hear directly from Meyer.
A moderator for each of three separate hour-long sessions directed pre-submitted questions from the audience.
In the final presentation, Meyer took the stage and noted his priorities may include additional focus on other well-intentioned programs but expressed caution about those that continue to grow without consideration of cost or ongoing benefit to taxpayers.
In response to a question about the proposed House Bill 1, requesting the appointment of a secretary of veterans affairs to his cabinet, Meyer expressed his respect for the few who serve our state and nation in uniform.
He shared an incident in Iraq during his service as a U.S. State Department senior economic advisor working with military and economic aid leaders. On his way to a conference in a convoy of three armored vehicles, the convoy stopped to examine a paper bag on the road. He recalled his impatience about the delay until a 23-year-old U.S. Army bomb expert disarmed a large buried IED that possibly saved his life.
HB 1, a bipartisan bill supported by the Delaware Veterans Coalition and endorsed by the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs and multiple veterans organizations, urges the governor to appoint a dedicated, experienced military veteran to lead the state’s efforts in identifying and addressing the needs of our state’s 70,000 veterans and their families, as opposed to the existing structure that reports to the secretary of state, a non-veteran position, with multiple duties unrelated to those who serve.
The proposed cost of the position will be far outweighed by the millions of federal dollars it will bring to assist honorably discharged veterans not registered in the VA system to apply for already appropriated, earned federal benefits, including some healthcare costs currently paid by state taxpayers.
In a discussion about his coming selection of a secretary of education, Meyer noted it must be a teacher. The same logic compels the selection of a veteran experienced in state and federal law to address the needs of those who serve. A veteran with proven experience and credentials known for his or her service and dedication to fellow veterans, and the status to work directly with state and federal officials, should be considered, as has been done in at least 10 other states. It’s literally a matter of life and death for some veterans waiting for help.
The fewer than one-tenth of a percent of our population who volunteer and qualify to protect us must be acknowledged and valued. Their selfless service guarantees the freedoms we enjoy in this increasingly hostile world.
For those reasons and many more, the Delaware Veterans Coalition urges Meyer to engage with leaders who have "been there, done that," and understand the needs of those who defend us.
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