Brian Endicott's Letter to the Editor: Stivers shifted stance on military policy

clipped from www.dispatch.com In late 2008, I had an opportunity to talk with Steve Stivers, the Republican candidate for the 15th Congressional District. We are both former military-service members and I wanted to hear his take on several issues regarding our military. It was refreshing to know that despite our different political-party affiliations, our positions on these issues were very close. One issue we discussed at length was a potential repeal of don't ask, don't tell, the policy barring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender soldiers from openly serving in the military. At the time of our conversation, Stivers said the policy was discriminatory and unnecessary and diminished the strength of our armed forces. He unequivocally stated that the policy should be repealed. However, Stivers speaks differently in public. At a meet-the-candidates forum, he opposed repeal, saying that studies need to be conducted on any potential impact and that repeal is a bad idea during our current international deployments.

Stivers should refer to the several studies that already have been conducted, all of which support repeal. Furthermore, our global conflicts are no different today from what they were at the time of our discussion.

I fail to recognize his reasoning for changing positions; it seemingly is a result of politics as usual. He's obviously catering to the audience and can't formulate his own stance on issues. Voters should keep him out of public office. Who knows what he'll do if elected?

BRIAN ENDICOTT

Columbus