Elected Officials Soldiering On

Daniel Martinez was ready to do his duty.

Activated by the California Air National Guard, the single dad had packed his duffel bag, turned over financial affairs to his sweetheart and prepared his 9-year-old daughter for his departure to the Middle East. The only outstanding issue as he flew out Jan. 30 for what could be a 12-month tour was whether he would have a job when he got back.

Martinez, 45, is city clerk in Oxnard, an elected post he first won in 1992 and has held through two subsequent elections. He is up for reelection again in November, when he is supposed to be stuck in a war zone unloading cargo from the belly of behemoth military aircraft.

He hopes his mission will be over by then. If not, he plans to request a leave of absence to run for reelection. Failing that, the Oxnard native intends to run for office from more than 7,000 miles away, relying on an Internet hookup and supporters back home to convince voters that he can serve his country and his city at the same time.

“I would leave it to the voters to decide,” said Martinez, a staff sergeant in the 146th Airlift Wing based at the Channel Islands Air National Guard Station near Point Mugu. “But they’re calling us because they need us, and this is what we are trained to do.”

Other elected officials across the state and the country have struggled with dual loyalties as they have joined the tens of thousands of National Guard and Reserve troops called to duty in Iraq and other hot spots. Members of Congress are exempt from military service.

Though no one keeps track of their numbers, lawmakers in Pennsylvania, Missouri and Iowa are among those who have been tapped to fight on various fronts, part of a part-time force that has become increasingly vital to Pentagon planners as the war continues and other nations decline to send troops.

In California, newly elected Petaluma City Councilman Keith Canevaro took a leave of absence last month after being called to active duty with the 1st Marine Division in Iraq. A graduate of the Citadel, the product manager for Cisco Systems earned a standing ovation from audience members and his colleagues when he announced his deployment at a City Council meeting.

In fulfilling their obligations, however, these statesmen-turned-soldiers have encountered an inexact -- and some say confusing -- set of military guidelines governing their ability to serve in both capacities.

Generally speaking, officeholders are prohibited from performing their elected duties once they are activated for 270 days or more. Moreover, once called up, public officials must seek a waiver from the Department of Defense to run for reelection, and they probably would be prohibited from campaigning. The idea is to prevent active military personnel from engaging in politics, ensuring a separation of powers between the armed forces and the legislative branch.

But some officeholders say those guidelines have been subject to interpretation by various military branches, and are calling for a clearer and more consistent directive.

“Each individual component of the armed services has been interpreting the regulations differently, so there’s a lot of confusion out there,” said Ohio state lawmaker John Boccieri, an Air Force Reserve captain who was preparing to leave for a one-year tour in the Middle East.

The two-term representative, who like Martinez faces reelection in November, scrambled to understand the military guidelines after being called up in December.

Boccieri said he has learned that he could continue to hold office while activated, but that he would not be able to vote or perform the day-to-day duties of the office. Similarly, he is seeking a military waiver to keep his name on the November ballot but will hand over all reelection activities to his campaign staff.

There has been an effort by military officials “to try to clear up some of the ambiguity, but I don’t know if they’ve gone far enough,” said the Ohio Democrat, a C-130 pilot who has performed active and reserve service for about a decade, including stints in Kosovo and Bosnia.

Because this call-up involves such an extended period, Boccieri said this was the first time that his military service has interfered in a significant way with his legislative duties. He is confident his staff will run the office efficiently in his absence, although he will probably miss a few months of votes in the Legislature. Boccieri has introduced legislation in Ohio to allow lawmakers called to active duty to vote in absentia as long as it doesn’t conflict with their military duties.

In Pennsylvania, state lawmaker John R. Pippy ran head-on into the vagaries of the military guidelines when he was called to active duty last year in the midst of a state Senate bid.

A captain in the U.S. Army Reserve, Pippy was activated a month before a March special election that brought new focus to the issue. Although he was a sitting state representative and his name was already on the ballot for the Senate race, the Army ruled days before the election that he could not run. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz intervened, issuing a waiver allowing him to stay in the race, though he was prohibited from campaigning.

Relying on his wife and other supporters, the Republican lawmaker handily won election, although at the time he was stationed at an Army base in Maryland awaiting orders to deploy. Pippy took the oath of office March 24 while on a one-day pass. He shipped out to Iraq a month later and returned Jan. 7 to assume his Senate duties.

Although his absence generated some criticism from political rivals, Pippy said the response to his military service from constituents has been overwhelmingly positive. He has been getting calls from elected officials around the country seeking his help in maneuvering through the maze of military guidelines.

“Our Guard and reservists have become a much more integral part of our total force package. Because of that, these issues are going to have to be addressed,” Pippy said. “In a democracy, I think people have a right, if I’m already on the ballot or running for reelection, to decide if they want to vote for someone who serves [part time] in the military. The country would be a little better off if elected officials were having to do some of the things they were making other people do.”

The issue hasn’t come up much in California.

In fact, at California National Guard headquarters in Sacramento, officials could not recall another instance in recent years in which an elected officeholder was called to extended active duty. But Lt. Col. Matthew L. Dana, active guard reserve judge advocate in California, said he wouldn’t be surprised to see it crop up more.

“Because we’ve had so many reservists mobilized for such a long period of time, this issue is going to come up in a presidential election year,” Dana said.

During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered members of Congress exempt from military service, though some left their posts to volunteer. There are at least three members of Congress who are active reservists, including Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

Buyer, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, was called up for duty last March in the Persian Gulf and was fully prepared to serve. But he was later told by his superiors that he could not do so because “he was too much of a risk given his high profile” as a congressman, said spokeswoman Laura Zuckerman.

Under a 1999 Department of Defense directive, members of Congress and all key federal employees are automatically transferred to standby or retired reserve status during wartime.

But Kirk, who was elected three years ago, said he didn’t believe members of Congress should be given special consideration. Kirk performed combat duty in Kosovo in 1999 and now works once a month at the Pentagon as part of his reservist assignment.

“I don’t think any employees should be exempt,” he said. “If 535 of us in Congress can vote on war and peace, then some of us should go.”

In Oxnard, Martinez was called up as part of a massive troop rotation aimed at relieving war-weary soldiers in Iraq and replacing them with people better equipped and trained for the job.

Joining two dozen other guardsmen and their families in an auditorium at the Oxnard-area base, the city clerk scribbled notes as he was prepped for his mission. As children chewed on red licorice and darted between the aisles, the fatigues-clad soldiers learned about wills and extra pay for exposure to hostile fire. They were warned to guard against dehydration, to watch out for sand flies and to steer clear of food or drink that doesn’t come from an approved military source.

And while they did not learn exactly where they would be going, the reservists were told their orders had them on active duty for up to a year, with the possibility that they could be gone for less time or more. The separation of war combined with the uncertainty of the length of a reservist’s tour places an added strain on families and loved ones.

Martinez, who will continue to collect most of his civilian pay while on active duty, is hoping for less time overseas. But on the chance that his tour will be longer, he has set his affairs in order.

He paid dues in advance to the Kiwanis Club and other service organizations. He officially notified the Oxnard City Council on Jan. 27 of his departure, letting council members know that his duties as the city’s record keeper and agenda preparer would be performed in his absence by his assistant. And he signed over power of attorney to his girlfriend, Oxnard businesswoman Nina Duarte, who will pay his bills, pull reelection paperwork and head the campaign should Martinez not be back by November.

“I knew it was going to happen, but I was hoping it wouldn’t,” said Duarte, who accompanied Martinez to the Jan. 30 orientation. “You see all of these men, you ask them to go and they pick up and go. These men are dedicated and they enlisted for a reason.”

Martinez enlisted in the Air Force even before he graduated from Rio Mesa High School in 1976, serving as a military policeman for four years based at Castle Air Force Base in Central California. He joined the National Guard in 1985, stationed first in Van Nuys and then at the Channel Islands air base.

It was a brief call-up after the 1992 Los Angeles riots that prompted his initial run for public office -- after witnessing the devastation spurred by community upheaval, he decided to try his hand at public service.

Now, planning to leave the military for good after his current tour is done, he has come full circle. He is ready to do his duty abroad and then return home to a different kind of service.

“I’m nervous about going where I’m going, but maybe it will give me a different perspective on my life and my community,” Martinez said. “But this is my last obligation with the military -- unless I don’t get reelected, then I might need a job.”