Sestak Responds to Specter’s Ad Charges

[whiteroses]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/sestak-responds-to-specters-ad-charges/

April 20, 2010, 3:02 pm
Sestak Responds to Specter’s Ad Charges
By KATE PHILLIPS
MIDTERM ELECTIONS

As we noted earlier, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania began broadcasting a new commercial today that attacks the military and congressional records of his opponent in the Democratic primary, Representative Joe Sestak.

The Specter advertisement begins on a hard-hitting note, saying that Mr. Sestak, who served in the Navy for 31 years, was once relieved of his duties for creating a “poor command climate.”

But there’s a little more to the story than that. Toward the end of his Navy career, while serving as a top aide to Admiral Vernon E. Clark, the chief of naval operations, Mr. Sestak was assigned to assess the Navy’s fleet, and he proposed steep cutbacks. When Admiral Clark retired in 2005, his successor, Admiral Mike Mullen, relieved Mr. Sestak of that duty.
Updated Clarification: Reports at the time said Mr. Sestak was relieved of his position due to “poor command climate.”

Mr. Sestak retired from the Navy with the rank of rear admiral soon afterward. ...