The Wisconsin National Guard is considering taking action against a congressman currently deployed with his Air National Guard unit for blasting the governor’s decision to withdraw troops U.S.-Mexico border.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican congressman from Illinois and lieutenant colonel with the Wisconsin Air National Guard, tore into Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ decision on Monday to join several other states in withdrawing National Guard troops from the southwest.
https://twitter.com/RepKinzinger/status/1100032737250029568https://twitter.com/RepKinzinger/status/1100032738630033409
Kinzinger is a Republican. Evers is a Democrat. But all that really matters is that Gov. Evers is the commander-in-chief of the Wisconsin National Guard, which means Kinzinger technically dissed a commanding officer.
According to the Associated Press, Wisconsin law states that commissioned officers who use “contemptuous words against the president, the vice-president, members of congress, the secretary of defense, the secretary of a military department, the secretary of homeland security, or the governor or legislature of the state of Wisconsin shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
When the Associated Press asked the National Guard if Kinzinger might be disciplined for his comments, spokesman Capt. Joe Travato responded that both the Guard and Evers’ office “are looking into the matter.”
A Kinzinger’s spokeswoman told the AP that the Wisconsin statutes only apply to members while “on service.”
Kinzinger had previously flown RC-26s for surveillance and reconnaissance missions and invoked his military service to justify his support for President Donald Trump’s efforts to construct a border wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“As a member of the Air National Guard, I work with Customs and Border Protection officers on our southwest border and know firsthand how an unsecure border jeopardizes the security of our country” his website says.