stolen valor

As a follow-up to a blog post I wrote on Connecticut Atty General and Democrat nominee for the U.S. Senate Richard Blumenthal, we now have a member of his staff saying that he lied to the staff member, a former Marine himself, “face to face”.

Richard Hine, State Asst Atty General for Connecticut, has worked for Blumenthal for the last 20 years in the Attorney General’s Office. He says:

Hine said Blumenthal first lied to him about his service record while attorney general as Hine was making preparations for service during Operation Desert Storm, the first Iraq War.

According to Hine, Blumenthal expressed concern about his family should he be sent to Iraq and made sure he would be available to Hine’s family should they need him.

“He then said that ‘you as a major would have it easier than I did as an enlisted man in Vietnam’,” Hine said, recalling that the conversation that happened in Blumenthal’s office on the seventh floor at 55 Elm St., Hartford. “I knew right there that he was lying.”

Although shocked, Hine said he did not say anything at the time because he was indebted to Blumenthal for his kindness toward his family.

Hine served for 13 years as a Judge Advocate in the Marines and was honorably discharged.

He goes on to say:

he felt he had to come forward after Blumenthal’s recent actions.

“This has to do with integrity, has to do with qualifications for office and with a very personal conversation back in January or February, 1991,” he said.

Surrounded by the mementos of his own life as a Marine, Hine said what Blumenthal did went against the code of being a Marine.

“As a Marine, you don’t lie,” he said. “He has forgotten whatever he learned at Parris Island.”