
@alextdaugherty
A day after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Patrick Murphy unveiled a new line of attack that sets the tone for his general election fight ahead: Marco Rubio doesn't serve his constituents in Florida.
Tim Riney, a Florida resident and the father of a solider severely injured in a military training exercise, appeared at a Wednesday morning press conference alongside Murphy to criticize Rubio's response to his son's needs and recent TV ads highlighting the Republican's support from veterans.
Riney's son Timothy Riney Jr. went to a private hospital to recover and his family dealt with Warrior Transition Unit, a military body set up to provide support for injured and wounded soldiers and their families.
When Riney had issues with the WTU, he called Rubio. He wasn't satisfied with the response.
"It took Senator Rubio four to five months to get back to me," Riney said. "In that time, we were put through hell."
Riney, who criticized Rubio for running for president instead of helping constituents like him, said he communicated with Rubio's Orlando office.
He also called Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, but said didn't hear back from his office.
Murphy said his work with the United Solutions caucus in Congress showed that "we need to reduce the backlog at the VA [Veterans Administration]. It is shameful that the folks who are putting their life on the life for this country are coming home waiting in line to get service."
"Our VA can and should be doing a lot more and a lot of that comes down to funding," Murphy said. "This shouldn't be a partisan issue."
Rubio used recent TV ads to tout his record on veterans' issues with his campaign saying "Marco Rubio wrote and passed bipartisan legislation allowing the VA to fire negligent workers."
Politifact rated that statement as mostly true and Murphy voted in favor of a larger bill that included Rubio's legislation to make it easier to fire incompetent VA workers.
Murphy also committed to one debate with Rubio, and said he will accept Rubio's challenge of six debates, including one hosted by a Spanish-language outlet, when Rubio commits to a full six-year term in the Senate.
"I'm going to take his challenge seriously," Murphy said. "We've already agreed to one debate, I'm looking forward to that and our teams are going to continue, you know, talking to hash out the details there. There are going to be multiple debates."
Murphy also said he trusts Hillary Clinton saying "I believe that herself and the campaign and the Clinton Foundation made the necessary reforms to help instill more trust in the voters."
UPDATE: 4:45pm
Rubio's office released a statement regarding their handling of Riney's case:
“Our office responded to Mr. Riney’s request within two business days. In the following months, our office was in frequent contact with Mr. Riney, the Army and the Senate Armed Services Committee about this case, which was primarily handled by a team of professionals in our office who all took this duty seriously, including a veteran and a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps."
“Our office was able to assist the Riney family on getting some answers, but this was a complex case involving a training accident which occurred during the course of Spc. Riney’s service in the Army – the kind of case that takes some time to work through and is subject to lengthy internal investigation by the Army itself. When we last communicated with Mr. Riney in October 2015, he indicated that no further action was needed from our office at the time. We remain committed to working with him to ensure his son receives the care he deserves.
“Our office receives approximately 30,000 items of constituent correspondence each month and our caseworkers work tirelessly to assist thousands of Floridians each year. We are never satisfied with anything less than a completely satisfactory resolution for all the Floridians we assist and only wish we could do more to help each and every person who contacts our office.”
UPDATE 6:07pm
Nelson's office released a statement regarding the Riney case:
"Timothy Riney contacted our office in March 2015 and asked for our help. We had him fill out a consent form. We then contacted the Army on his behalf and asked them to look into the case. The Army sent us a written response, which we then sent to Timothy Riney in May 2015."