Rep. Elise Stefanik and NY-21 Democratic candidate Matt Castelli

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Veterans of Foreign Wars Post is inviting veterans from around the Tri-Lakes to come speak with Democratic Congressional candidate Matt Castelli at a town hall on Monday.

Republican incumbent candidate Elise Stefanik, will also be in town on Saturday, to hold a rally in Riverside Park.

David Staszak, a VFW member, event organizer and Army veteran with four years of active duty in Vietnam and 20 years in the reserves, said he wants to get the word out about his event because he wants all local veterans to get the chance to talk to the people running for federal office to represent them, adding that this is their time to advocate for veterans’ issues.

“Saranac Lake and the Tri-Lakes have a lot of older as well as younger veterans and other people interested in veteran affairs,” Staszak wrote in an email.

He’s invited Homeward Bound and staff at St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment & Recovery Centers who work with veterans and he’s hoping for a good turnout.

Staszak said he invited Stefanik, who is running for her fifth term in the seat, to speak at the VFW. On Wednesday he was hoping for a response to set a date.

The Enterprise emailed Stefanik’s campaign to ask if she would be visiting the VFW. Her senior advisor Alex DeGrasse said she would not, but she will be in Saranac Lake for a rally on Saturday.

“They (the VFW) reached out to us to invite Matt Castelli and referred to us in the email as Matt Castelli,” DeGrasse wrote in an email.

He said Stefanik has met with “thousands of veterans” in the North Country and touted $5.5 million in VA benefits she has “recovered” for North Country veterans.

“She will be in Saranac Lake for the largest rally in the Tri-Lakes area of the cycle this weekend and looks forward to meeting with hundreds of local veterans,” DeGrasse wrote.

The Castelli town hall will be held at the Saranac Lake VFW Post at 202 Broadway on Monday at 2 p.m.

Stefanik’s rally will be held at Riverside Park in Saranac lake with live music starting at 9 a.m. and speeches starting at 10:30 a.m. The event is being organized by the Saranac Lake GOP Victory Team. U.S. Senate candidate Joe Pinion and state attorney general candidate Michael Henry will also speak at the rally.

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The forgotten cost of war

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Staszak said he’s concerned by the state of veteran care in the U.S. today. The country is coming off a 20-year war in Afghanistan, which produced millions of veterans. Personally, he said he knows the VA can take weeks to call back — it’s slow. And while the military budget gets plenty of funding, he said legislators often ignore the other cost of war: treating the veterans who are injured by serving their country.

He said he’s got some issues he cares about that he wants to talk with the NY-21 candidates about.

Staszak attended a Castelli town hall at Saranac Laboratory Museum in September where Castelli mentioned that Stefanik voted against the Honoring Our PACT Act, which is set to expand health care services for people suffering health effects of burn pit exposure after being signed into law in August.

Stefanik has said she voted against this bill because it would create longer wait times for veterans seeking other VA health benefits.

Staszak said hearing this “inflamed” him.

“People want to talk about ‘It’s too expensive to take care of veterans,'” Staszak said. “You vote for money for defense but you won’t vote for money for veterans.”

Staszak said he feels a bit of ire when people say “thank you for your service” without doing something to serve the country themselves.

“You can’t just give more money to the military and then screw your veterans when they get out and say ‘Thank you for your service,'” Staszak said. “Oh, it may cost you some more of your tax dollars? Sorry. That’s what ‘Thank you for your service’ means.”

Staszak said when the U.S. entered the Korean War, then-President Harry Truman raised taxes on top earners to 91% and on lowest earners to 20%. When the U.S. entered Vietnam War, then-President Lyndon Johnson also raised taxes. But when the U.S. into Afghanistan, then-president George Bush cut taxes, a big change, Staszak felt.

He said America has been putting the cost of war “on a credit card” — that is, adding to the deficit through military spending, but then citing the deficit as a reason for not increasing support for veterans.

“They’ll give more money to the military but they’ll hawk about, ‘Well we can’t (fund veterans programs) because of the deficit,'” he said. “Well, raise taxes. Pay for the war.”

He also sees a problem with the fact that veterans need to seek VA health care coverage instead of automatically getting it.

“You can be in the military. I’ll be gross. You can get both your legs blown off. You get treated at Walter Reed or wherever. Fine. Then they discharge you. You know what you’ve got to do? You have to apply for VA health care,” Staszak said. “That seems ridiculous to me.”

He believes that it should be on the military, outpatient planners and the VA to coordinate health care for veterans, instead of them having to work through the bureaucracy to get treated.

The EVEST Act would automatically enroll veterans transitioning to civilian life in Veterans Affairs healthcare. At the town hall in September, Castelli pointed out that Stefanik voted against this act. The act still passed the House.

Staszak said legislators are often worried that people take advantage of these systems, and “milk them” if they are automatically enrolled in them. But he said he would rather see a bunch of people skate by and get benefits they technically aren’t entitled to, rather than see one person in need suffer through the beurocracy of fighting to get the benefits they are entitled to.

Staszak said he hopes to talk on Monday about the total cost of wars, and supporting veterans is part of that cost.