Retired Officers Accuse Umberg of Duping Voters : Politics: Group claims Democratic assemblyman misled electorate into thinking he served in Gulf. He calls it a desperate GOP attempt to discredit him.

A group of retired military officers--one of them a member of the county Republican Central Committee--accused Democratic Assemblyman Tom Umberg on Thursday of misleading voters and violating Army regulations by using military pictures of himself in political mailers.

But Umberg characterized the charges as a “desperate attempt” by Republicans to discredit him in his reelection bid to the 69th Assembly District. The 69th is the only district in Orange County with a Democratic majority.

Umberg is running against Republican challenger Jo Ellen Allen, a conservative former associate professor of political science.

Nearly a dozen former Air Force, Navy and Army officers gathered near Umberg’s district office in Garden Grove to challenge statements in his campaign literature that they said misled voters into thinking that Umberg had served in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War.

“While we do not criticize Mr. Umberg’s military service, we cannot be silent about what we see as exploitation of the men and women who served in or near combat in the Persian Gulf War,” said Charles Montero of Huntington Beach, a member of the GOP Central Committee. “For Tom Umberg to display postcards showing phrases like ‘I’m in the desert with the Army’ when in fact he was stationed in Barstow, not Saudi Arabia, is the height of misleading the voters.”

One of Umberg’s campaign mailers shows postcards he wrote to his family while his Army reserve unit was at Ft. Irwin in San Bernardino County in 1990. “I’m in the desert with the Army. I miss you all very much. I love you. Your husband and daddy.”

Umberg, a major in the Army reserve, said the allegation of misrepresentation was ridiculous, noting that the postcard clearly pointed out that they were sent from Ft. Irwin and not from the Persian Gulf. The stamp clearly points out that it was mailed from San Bernardino County, Umberg’s aides pointed out.

“I am very proud of my military service and I never would use it for political purposes,” Umberg said, adding that if it is against Army regulations to use photographs in uniform he would discontinue the practice. But he said thousands of other politicians, including many Republicans, should also stop using pictures of themselves in military uniforms in campaign literature if it is a violation of regulations.

Allen’s campaign manager, Jeff Flint, said some of the veterans protesting Thursday’s protest were Allen supporters but said her campaign had nothing to do with organizing the gathering.

“Some of the veterans came to us and said they were upset about the photographs and the literature. They said they wanted to protest and we told them to do what they wanted to do,” Flint said.