Bernard Schoenburg
The State Journal-Register
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Back in 2011, when Ward 7 Ald. JOE McMENAMIN first won election to the city council, his campaign sent out a letter of support from ROBERT E. FOSTER, touting McMenamin’s Army National Guard and legal experience.
Not pointed out until after the election was that the address given for Foster on the envelope was c/o (in care of) Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 755, where Foster was quartermaster.
The post, a tax-exempt organization, isn’t supposed to participate in a campaign, and the commander at the time said the letter from Foster was personal.
Well, this year, as McMenamin seeks a third term, his campaign sent out a letter of support from CHIP and NANCY WOODWARD, and included was a copy of the old letter from Foster — including the address of the VFW — and a new note from Foster saying he strongly affirms his letter of eight years ago.
MIKE CAMERER, senior vice commander of the post, said Foster and McMenamin are both members, and he reiterated that the VFW doesn’t do political endorsements.
Foster had already moved out of Ward 7 eight years ago, and voter registration records show he now lives in Woodside Township.
McMenamin says now, as he did then, that the letter is “not an endorsement and it doesn’t say it’s an endorsement.” And as for leaving the VFW address as part of Foster’s letter, McMenamin said: “I’m not going to manipulate a letter from eight years ago.”
McMenamin also said that back in 2011, the VFW address was on the mailing envelope, which he said was what caused concern. This time around, it was only on the inside.
McMenamin is challenged by BRAD CARLSON as he seeks his third term.
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 