Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (D), long seen as a foe in Indian Country, claimed as recently as a few weeks ago that he had served in Vietnam, The New York Times reports.

Blumenthal, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, talked about his military service at a ceremony that former Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut) attended. According to Shays, Blumenthal said that Americans spit on soldiers when "we returned from Vietnam" even though he never served in the war.

Shays, whose tenure in Congress was also seen as anti-tribal, said Blumenthal's claims about his military service grew over the years. "He just kept adding to the story, the more he told it," Shays told the Times.

"He is the kind of person I cared enough about that I wish I had nipped this in the bud when it was fomenting," Shays told the paper.

Blumenthal has fought tribes on sovereignty, taxation, land-into-trust, gaming, labor and federal recognition matters for over a decade as state attorney general. He has filed briefs in cases that affect tribes nationwide and recently testified against a bill to fix the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar.

Get the Story:
Colleague Says Blumenthal Claims Grew in Time (The New York Times 5/19)

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