Gillibrand dared to take on military, make a difference

Saratoga Springs kicks can down road on early bar closings

By Ken Tingley

You have to admire Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s perseverance and her gumption.

Ten years ago she did something no other politician was willing to do. She criticized the military. National polls showed that the military was one of the last institutions the public trusted.

But Sen. Gillibrand found they had a problem, a big problem.

With more and more women joining the armed forces, sexual assault complaints were rising. Investigations and newspaper reports suggested the problem was widespread and far greater than military officials were willing to admit.

Rank and file men and women in uniform admitted they were afraid to report offenses because of the way sexual assaults were handled. Decisions on whether the accused would be prosecuted were left, not to military prosecutors, but to commanders in the military chain of command. That often meant those being accused were part of the decision process.

There is nothing remotely right about that.

Many men and women were driven out of the military.

Too many others remained silent.

Others got a way with their crimes.

Sen. Gillibrand became their advocate.

She pushed for reforms and came tantalizing close to getting significant changes in how cases are prosecuted in the Senate only to fall a vote or two short.

Sen. Gillibrand was not afraid to push back against the military. Because of the military’s popularity, that cost politicians votes.

Rep. Elise Stefanik took the opposite tact. As a member of House Armed Services Committee, she had the opportunity to also make a difference, especially after Gillibrand started making noise. But she didn’t.

I remember asking her about sexual assaults in the military during a Post-Star editorial board meeting only to be told it was not a problem. Military commanders had told her so.

Stefanik believed the military “chain of command” needed to remain the way it was, even when prosecuting sexual assaults.

This past week, Sen. Gillibrand’s efforts finally came to fruition. Her suggested reforms were part of a compromise defense spending bill for 2023.

Commanding officers will no longer have any control over the prosecution of sexual harassment and assault cases and related crimes. Independent military prosecutors will be in charge of prosecutions that had long been the responsibilities of commanding officers, even if it was the commanding officer who was accused.

“This is a historic milestone in our efforts to reform and professionalize the military justice system,” Gillibrand told reporters Friday.

There are an estimated 39,500 sexual assaults in the military each year, but only it is estimated only one in four are reported.

Don Christensen, the president of the group Protect Our Defenders and a retired Air Force colonel told the Associated Press:

“These changes will go a long way to increasing the confidence that survivors have - whether they’re survivors of domestic violence, sexual harassment or sexual assault, or the families whose loved ones have been murdered - to come forward and to feel like they’re going to get justice,”

Perhaps, the most important acknowledgement was that Rep. Stefanik voted for the spending measure.

Author’s  Note: In the interest of full disclosure, Sen. Gillibrand recently endorsed my book “The Last American Newspaper.”

Mayor responds

After my column last week about closing bars earlier in Saratoga Springs, Mayor Ron Kim published this tweet in response to the column:

Saratoga County has already balked at four previous requests to close bars earlier in the city. Mayor Kim has said as much. So the city council’s recent vote not to take more drastic action appears to just be kicking the can down the road until the next shooting.

Transparency?

The shooting that spawned the efforts to close bars earlier in Saratoga has led to a lot of controversy on its own.

A Utica man and an off-duty sheriff’s department deputy from Vermont engaged in a 3 a.m. shootout on Caroline Street. When Saratoga police officers arrived, they shot the Vermont man multiple times. When city officials released video of the incident in hopes of defending their police officers, the Saratoga County district attorney got a judge to impose a gag order to stop further information being released by the city.

Our police and prosecutors have a duty to be as transparent as policy when public violence occurs in a local city and the police are called upon to use deadly force.

As of this time, the Utica man involved in the shooting has not yet been identified or charged.

A full accounting of this incident is due the public, not more secrecy.

Greenwich Holiday Dinner

It is an honor to be invited to speak at the Greenwich Lions Club annual holiday dinner on Thursday.

WAMC host Joe Donahue will once again engage with me in conversation about newspapers, journalism and my recent books “The Last American Editor” and “The Last American Newspaper.”

The event is being held at the Greenwich Elks Club. I will be signing books afterward.