Welcome to "The Buck Stops Now"

by Braddon Mendelson

The 112th Congress has just been sworn in, and Representative Howard P. “Buck” McKeon has taken over as the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.  Based on his education, background and voting record, however, McKeon seems the least qualified representative in history to assume this powerful position.

With the BS degree he received in Animal Husbandry from Brigham Young University in 1985 (age 47), he would seem more apt to head the Agriculture Committee than Armed Services. Perhaps McKeon steered away from agriculture because he never worked on a farm.

Then again, he never served in the military, either. Instead, he mis-managed a multi-million dollar business he inherited from his parents (“Howard and Phil’s Western Wear”), which he subsequently ran into the ground, reaping millions for himself and allowing his brothers to take the fall in bankruptcy court.

In 2010, Representative McKeon received a “C” rating from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America for his  failure — in both the 110th and 111th congresses — to support major issues of importance to those who have served our country. His abysmal voting record on behalf of our veterans tempers any confidence one may have in McKeon to head a committee whose decisions affect millions of our fellow citizens sent into harm’s way.

His poor voting record on veterans’ issues and his lack of experience in the military, by themselves, may not raise more than a few eyebrows, but add to that his amorous relationship with defense contractors, and you paint a picture of a man whose motives are far from altruistic.

McKeon covets his relationship with the defense industry, his #1 donor.  Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Northrop Grumman all have facilities located within his district and have been among his most generous contributors, occasionally even employing his former staffers. (source: http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2625 )

In 2009-2010 the Buck McKeon for Congress Committee and McKeon’s 21st Century PAC (where his wife is on the payroll, serving as treasurer) received $439,000 from defense industry contributions.   (source: http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2010&type=C&cid=N00006882&newMem=N&recs=20).

To return the favor, McKeon has been steadfast in his quest to fund a $3 billion secondary engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — a project that would benefit McKeon donors Lockheed, GE and Rolls Royce, but which the Pentagon has repeatedly rejected as unnecessary and wasteful.

For someone who touts himself a “fiscal conservative,” McKeon has no trouble at all spending billions of taxpayer dollars on programs that even the military doesn’t want — all in the name of keeping his corporate donors happy.

As McKeon takes the reins of the HASC, we only hope those members who serve under him have the experience, integrity and moral compass to guide their chairman in a direction that actually makes our country safer, greed and profit notwithstanding.