Vets For Freedom is an American political advocacy organization founded in 2006 by veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars. Its stated purpose is advocacy of victory in America's ongoing War on Terrorism, and support of candidates with positions consistent with this goal. Vets For Freedom is a non-profit organization. Vets for Freedom PAC is an associated, but separate tax-exempt, nonpartisan political action committee.
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Organizational work
Spokesmen for VFF appear on televised news shows and write op-ed pieces for newspapers. The organization has also issued a number of press releases. Vets for Freedom sponsored a full-page political ad in the Hartford Courant on August 14, 2006 endorsing Democratic US Senator Joe Lieberman and embarked on a television advertising campaign in Connecticut supportive of his reelection. Additionally, they financed an ad campaign in Georgia to support embattled Democratic Congressman Jim Marshall in 2006. He won by the smallest margin of any Democratic congressman that year.
In March 2008 Vets for Freedom launched a nationwide event called the "National Heroes Tour." The trip made national news when a scheduled event was canceled by Forest Lake High School in Minnesota. Many media outlets such as the Drudge Report picked up the story and the school was flooded by emails and phone calls of protest.
Vets on the Hill I and II
On Tuesday, September 18, 2007 Vets for Freedom took part in a breakfast on the south lawn of the White House with President George W. Bush, the First Lady, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Following the program, over 250 members of the organization lobbied members of the U.S. House and Senate to "support Gen. Petraeus and the War in Iraq" and to ask them to denounce MoveOn.org's attack on "General Betray-us." A 3 p.m. rally near the Capitol that day featured speeches from Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham, and John Cornyn. Remarks were also made by Rep. Roy Blunt.
One day later Senator Jim Webb's amendment to reduce troop rotation levels failed by four votes. The amendments was called a "slow bleed amendment" by critics. Vets for Freedom was strongly opposed to the legislation and lobbied aggressively for its defeat.
Vets for Freedom held a second Vets on the Hill in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, April 8, 2008. Over 450 Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans attended the program and met with senators and representatives from every state. Vets for Freedom claimed it was the largest gathering on Capitol Hill of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. A rally was held at 8:30am edt that featured speeches from Sen. John McCain, Sen. Joe Lieberman, and Rep. Jim Marshall. 27 media outlets covered the event which was held the same day as Gen. Petraeus' testimony before the Senate. Earlier in the day at a breakfast program Vets for Freedom members heard motivational speeches from retired Gen. Richard Myers, a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and current Georgetown men's basketball coach John Thompson III.
2008 presidential campaign
In October 2008, Veterans for Freedom paid for a multimillion-dollar ad campaign criticizing the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. The group accuses the Democratic presidential nominee of caring more about his campaign than about troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Previously, Vets for Freedom aired other advertisements criticizing Senator Obama's position on the Iraq War.
On October 10, 2008 Veterans for Freedom released a Senate Analysis scorecard. In the VFF scorecard, every single Democratic senator was given the lowest possible grade of F. Three Republican senators were graded F, and 38 Republican senators received the grade of A+. VFF gave Sen Obama the score of 0.5%, or second lowest, and gave his running mate Sen Joe Biden the score of 0.0%, tying him for last place with Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. John McCain received a score of 93.5% and the grade of A-.
2010 congressional campaign
In a campaign called "Operation 10-in-10," Vets for Freedom backed 10 Republican congressional candidates in the 2010 congressional elections. (Italicized denotes successful run.) The Iraq and Afghanistan veterans running for office included Allen West (FL-22), Steve Stivers (OH-15), Jonathan Paton (AZ-8), Ilario Pantano (NC-7), Adam Kinzinger (IL-11), Joe Heck (NV-3), Chris Gibson (NY-20), Brian Rooney (MI-7), Kevin Calvey (OK-5), and Tim Griffin (AR-2).
Founders
Political connections
Funding
VFF has applied for status as a tax-exempt Nonprofit organization, but as of June 2006 the application was not approved. Zirkle said that "Initial funding came from family members and friends." It is now a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization.
Vets for Freedom states on their homepage "We depend on small donations from our thousands of supporters across America."
The National Journal has reported that casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, the third richest man in America, has made a significant donation to Vets For Freedom.