Assemblyman Chuck DeVore Email

Typically Assemblyman DeVore's email come through as objective, smart and balanced.

This one came across as emotional and angry.

From Assemblyman DeVore:

Never before in my time in the Legislature have I been so upset and angry at a vote that was brought up on the floor. Yesterday afternoon we voted on a measure that has no legal standing and is completely unconstitutional, yet will kill American service members by emboldening our enemy.

The measure? Senate Bill 924, the Iraq surrender resolution by Don Perata.

SB 924 will ask the voters of California whether we should “achieve the immediate, complete… withdrawal…” from Iraq, calling the “surge” “ill-conceived.”

I had no idea I was elected by the people of the 70^th District to be the U.S. Secretary of Defense. Or, was it U.S. Secretary of State? The resolution also calls for “…diplomatic and nonmilitary assistance to promote peace and stability in Iraq and the Middle East.”

Most political analysts believe that Senator Perata schemed up this bill to increase liberal voter turnout for the February 2008 election, the election that will feature his cherished term limit extension initiative, allowing him to serve an extra four years in the Senate.

Just bringing this measure to the floor made me sick to my stomach as it has no legal effect. What it will do is serve as a propaganda tool for al-Qaeda. In this, if it is not vetoed by the Governor and makes it to the ballot, it will be similar to California’s 1982 nuclear freeze ballot initiative – which, of course, stopped the building of nuclear weapons by the evil Soviet Union and ended the Cold War – NOT. (Interesting side note, Assemblyman Martin Garrick’s father, retired Admiral Garrick, wrote the arguments against the nuclear freeze initiative. It passed by about 52 percent to 48 percent.)

I had a few words to say on this “ill-conceived” measure, both on the floor and to the media. NBC quoted me in a piece as saying,

But the California legislature has no authority over American troops overseas -- that is the role of the commander in chief. Republicans argued the resolution provides aid and comfort to the enemy, according to former National Guardsman and current Assemblyman Chuck Devore R-Irvine.

"It will be rebroadcast by Al Qaeda and the Al Qaeda mouthpieces and be used as proof of America's moral weakness and quailing cowardice in the face of Islamic fascist terrorism," Devore said.

(See: http://www.nbc11.com/news/13989769/detail.html)

Please ask the Governor to veto SB 924.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore

State Assemblyman, 70^th District

www.ChuckDeVore.com