Gillibrand fights for military justice reform

For those who consider dysfunction a congressional core value, here's a news alert: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand plays by a different set of rules.

Consider what she's accomplished so far on her mission to roto-till the military justice system into something that might actually be a deterrent to the services' pervasive culture of sexual assault.

After hearing victims of military sexual assault tell their stories, Gillibrand realized the current system was not working.

In May, she introduced landmark legislation to transfer the decision-making on such cases from the chain of command to trained military investigators and prosecutors.

In June, she received the legislative equivalent of a paternalistic pat on the head from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a fellow Democrat, who substituted a less controversial reform provision that had the support of the military brass and rammed it through the committee.

Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, didn't get mad. She got to work.

Unfazed by the fact her bill had been gutted, she took the original version back to senator after senator, and made her case.

She found military voices to help. Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Dennis Laich, for example, has told lawmakers, ?We have relied on the chain of command to deal with this issue, and the chain of command has failed for decades.?

But her biggest weapon is her own force of will.

Relentlessly, one on one, she has educated her fellow senators on the issue. From the 15 who joined her when her bill was introduced, she has added Republicans and Democrats alike in a slow, steady strengthening of force.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, announcing his support, said it best: ?The status quo is not working. We need to shake it up.?

Now, after adding conservative senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., and several others to her list of supporters over the past two weeks, she has 44 senators who have announced their support.

Gillibrand's assault on the Senate establishment couldn't have been planned better at West Point.

I believe that ultimately, Gillibrand will win a majority vote on the floor of the Senate.

It's telling that neither the majority leader, Harry Reid, nor the minority leader, Mitch McConnell, have weighed in on either side.

Neither has President Obama or Vice President Joe Biden.

McConnell, who will likely face a smart, tough woman, Alison Lundergan Grimes, in Kentucky's general election next year, desperately needs credibility with women voters. To survive a Republican primary battle against tea party candidate Matt Bevin, he needs to ?Stand with Rand.?

Given that combination, I find it hard to see how McConnell can avoid giving Gillibrand's bill his support. That should bring others along.

I'm also not sure why Reid would ultimately support Levin, who is retiring next year, over one of the brightest stars of his caucus. And it would be entirely consistent with their stated concerns about military sexual assault if Obama and Biden decided to come down on Gillibrand's side of the fence as well.

The Senate, which frequently has shown great ability to turn public outrage into innocuous legislation or out-and-out inaction (think gun violence), is waking up to the fact that Gillibrand is verging on a historic victory.

?The senator has contacted the majority and minority leaders, and the president and the vice president,? Gillibrand communications director Bethany Lesser said this week.

I'll just bet she has.

David McCumber is the Hearst Washington Bureau chief.

Source: http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Gillibrand-fights-for-military-justice-reform-4718572.php

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