Franken: “Country over party. People over politics”

GARNER - Retired 4-star vice admiral and Democratic candidate Mike Franken made a campaign stop at Garner, August 13. Franken is looking to unseat Iowa’s long-time senior senator Chuck Grassley (R) in November’s General Election.

“I’m very pleased to have this opportunity and pleased to know that we’ll be back,” he said to the group that gathered at the Garner Public Library.

In his introductory comments, Franken told about growing up in rural Sioux County. His family was “apolitical,” he said.

“What was important to us were home life, school, work, church, and extra curricular activities.”

He obtained a Navy scholarship in 1978 and graduated in engineering from the University of Nebraska. He embarked on a nearly 40-year career in the United States Navy, retiring in 2017.

 “The Navy introduced me to quite a different world,” he said. “I lived on four continents.”

In Washington D.C., Franken worked in political military affairs with the George W. Bush administration. He served as Chief of Legislative Affairs for the department during the Obama Administration. Earlier in his career, he was the first military officer to serve as a federal executive legislative fellow for Senator Ted Kennedy.

“I put country over party and I always put people over politics,” he stated.

An informal question and answer session with the audience followed. One topic was security clearances. 

 “I think people who are running for office where a security clearance will be mandated - think United States Senate. Think President of the United States – perhaps they ought to be qualified to obtain the security clearance needed beforethey run for office.”

He said there was “no way” that former President Donald Trump would have a gotten a security clearance.

 “National security isn't stuff you leave sitting on your desk,” he remarked. “This stuff is signed out, cataloged and registered. You have to have a ‘need to know’ to see.”

You just aren’t frivolous about this. It was very apparent we had someone In the White House who did not do due diligence on the job.”

Franken was asked if he would consider legislation that the Judiciary Committee must act upon a Supreme Court nominee within a given number of days.

“I think it's imperative,” was his response. “It can be argued there is a level of unfairness to not act upon a nomination for Supreme Court justice who previously was confirmed for a lower judgeship – is fully qualified – and you tabled his nomination for 11 months. Whereas sometime later you act quickly upon another nomination in 26 days when, I believe, 65 million votes for the next president have already been cast. Somebody in the room who thinks that’s fair please raise your hand.”

No hands were raised.

Franken lauded recent Biden Administration legislative successes in the areas of gun reform legislation, the PACT Act, the Infrastructure Reduction act.

“We voted to bring in Sweden and Finland [into NATO],” he said. “If Donald Trump were president, NATO would cease. I personally believe he had no commitment to NATO whatsoever.” 

He said the former president is “remarkable for having so ill prepared himself for the job.”

“We worried greatly when he came in November [of 2016]. When it became clear in February of 2017 that he wasn’t going to get any better, that’s when the alarm bells at the [Department of Defense] went off.”

The admiral was asked in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and tensions with China over Taiwan, “what are your projections with the Department of Defense?”

Franken replied that many people serving in Congress today have a “myopic view of yesterday’s conflicts.”

He explained how “asymmetric warfare” is carried out via cyber, space, critical infrastructure denigration, chemical/biological means, media manipulation, social media, civil strife, etc.

“It’s being done every day between various countries,” he said. “It’s what Russia did to Ukraine before they invaded. It's what Russia did to us leading up to the election. They sow discord.”

“There is room in the Department of Defense budget to reapportion ourselves to better prepare strategically, and strengthen ourselves morally, philosophically, materially for the threats that are going to come in the future.” 

“A series of persons with laptops can really cause problems here in Garner,” he said. “The advance of systems today has made distant wars less of a probability. Bringing it home a higher probability.”

 “We've put politics in front of sensibilities in this country,” he continued. “Health care, clean air, clean water, safety, education, community involvement are the platform of life. Why would we want to cause different areas of society to have a different size platform?”